New Light
by Incomparable-Insanity
Summary: He was a pyromaniac explosives user. He fights using marionettes. He was now an S-class missing nin of Iwa. He needed a partner. Akatsuki needed the Iwa-nins skills. And he had nowhere else to go. -DeidaraSasori yaoi. SasoriDeidara -yaoi-
1. New Recruit

**A/N**

I'm here with another Naruto fic. This time, it isn't AU. Please keep in mind these things:

1. Orochimaru is dead.

2. Sasuke never received the cursed mark.

Just so you guys know and stuff. Enjoy reading this.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. Or Akatsuki. If I did, the title would be, 'Akatsuki'. Plain obvious as day.

* * *

"**New Light"**

"New Recruit"

A blonde Iwa-nin had been hopping from branch to branch. He looked a bit frantic, along with the sudden face of anxiousness. He stopped as he felt the branch beneath his feet crack. Shaking his head venomously to get the stray locks of neatly tied hair he fell down gracelessly on the ground. But like a true ninja, he landed on his feet. Even to the point where he was hanging on a tree branch for proper landing.

He panted slightly and gave out a huff as he whipped his head around. How long have he been running? He didn't know where or which country he was right now. But why, why was this blonde ninja running?

"—Being a missing nin is probably the smartest thing I've done, yeah." The blonde breathed in. "…Or stupidest." He murmured to himself, leaning on a tree before sulkily slipping and now, gracefully taking a seat on the ground.

He ran a hand through his hair and grinned slightly. He had thought of one perk of being a missing nin. Freedom. Second perk. No shinobi rules to stand by. The second, even though not wanted, was probably needed by all the shinobi's. But still, whoever made those rules should do the world a favor and kill himself – blow himself up. Deidara snickered at this, thinking that the man might be dead already. Too bad he couldn't catch up with him. He'd love to blow the idiot who made such agonizingly annoying rules.

So far from his status, he'd done a lot of maniacal things already. That includes, blowing a mere fraction of his village. Killing the ANBU that chased him. Slaughtering a quarter of the Jounin population and killing the Tsuchikage. Life was just too easy sometimes. Or so he thought.

--

The sky grew dark for a moment there; Deidara had taken the opportunity, shinobi instincts kicking in already. He zoomed his camera-eye and saw what seemed to be hundreds of kunai raining down upon him. He gave out a small yelp and hastily jumped to a nearby branch for protection.

Great. Just when he thought he'd outrun those annoying ANBU, here they are now! He was starting to hate them just as much as he hated the Tsuchikage. He narrowly dodged a kunai that flew past him with a duck.

It's a good thing he came prepared-- wrong call. He _wasn't_ prepared. He had only little amount of clay left on his pouch. But seeing the faces of these ANBU—behind their masks—was still something Deidara couldn't let go of. He grinned savagely as he dug both his hands in his clay bag. The mouths on both hands opened and it quickly spooned in a mouthful of clay then began chewing.

"Damn ANBU bastards, yeah." Deidara snarled, as he jumped into the clearing. Said bastards merely backpedaled for good measure. One had a katana ready, the other two's hands clutching a handful of shuriken.

Deidara knew that Iwa was running out of shinobi. And getting to kill these three ANBU wouldn't probably affect Iwa that much as killing their Tsuchikage, but still, he's all up for this bloody blood battle. Well, semi-bloody blood battle.

He was finally done.

He cocked his head to the left, his mouth twitching and forming into another evil looking grin. "Be sure to say hi to the late Tsuchikage-_sama_ for me, yeah." He snickered, the '-sama' honorific actually a mocking one.

He showed them his palms. If these shinobi's mask were to be taken off, their emotionless and dull faces might've twisted already. As expected, miniature clay birds spurted out and were slowly drifting lifelessly towards the ground. He formed a sign and after a puff of nin-smoke, one grew large enough for him to climb on to while three other small masterpieces fluttered to life.

"So bye-bye, yeah." He told them jumpily, quick as he was, he took out a kunai and pinned what seemed to be the captain of this team whilst the other two were greeted by two of the birds, which stood, on their heads.

It seemed like the world exploded after that. "-Katsu!" He commanded, as the two birds exploded, killing all three of them. The third one was rested on his shoulder; he himself was safe from the explosion from below.

It all seemed like a beautiful fireworks display for Deidara. And this time, he was sure that none, not one single ANBU would dare follow him once more. He hoped.

--

A shadowy outline stood in front of seven people. One feminine figure stood beside him, arms folded cautiously in front of her stomach. His spiky hair stood up as his ringed eyes looked at his _members_. He seemed to have a satisfied smile on.

The place they were all at—meeting place; was dark. Dimly lighted. And dark. Very dark. The only possible light would probably the shadowy outline of their…

"Leader-sama, why the hell have you called for us again?" A man with white hair groaned, one hand on his forehead as he started to shake his head irritably. He was to speak once more but that was stopped when he was kicked harshly by his partner – a tall looking man with small green eyes and what seemed to be a white cloth—mask. Wearing, that is.

The fuchsia-eyed ninja yelped before kicking his partner back in the shin.

"Hidan. Kakuzu. Stop that _now_." The leader said, growling slightly at the irritable antics of the two probably mismatched partners. He received a grunt and a, 'yeah, yeah' as a reply. After that, the room fell down into an eerie silence, which left the other members quiet. For the time being.

The ring-eyed man closed his said eyes; before reopening them once more. A glint. A slight glint. "To answer Hidan's question, I've called you all here regarding a new recruit for this organization." He started off curtly as he surveyed his members one by one.

His eyes fell on a short redhead before a slight smirk, barely visible, crept up to his face. This guy would be the perfect partner for the ex-Suna-nin. Said redhead already knew where this meeting was going.

"_So, who's the little runt that'll be replacing Orochimaru_?" Zetsu's black side spoke as he stepped out from the shadowy side of the room. Well, the most shadowy corner, that is. Half of the people turned to look at him, Hidan looking bemused and probably asking himself, 'Where the hell did he come from?!'. Something similar to that.

"He's from Iwagakure." The leader stated idly as he turned to regard the plant-nin for a while. "He's already slaughtered the Tsuchikage and he was once a mercenary; a terrorist bomber."

A blue-skinned, rather tall looking man nodded at this as he gave off an amused grin. A toothy grin. He held the hilt of his gigantic sword for a moment before shifting. "Quite the interesting recruit, ei, Itachi-san?"

The said Sharingan user didn't bother to give him a glance. He just replied with a low, 'Hn'.

--

"Do we go after him or will he come to us?" Finally. A dry voice, rivaling that of the former Uchiha spoke. It came to the fact that it was the short redhead with a very impassive face on which spoke up. He reclined his head to the side a bit, waiting for their leader to speak once more.

This highly intrigued the leader. Out of all these so-called _geniuses_ Sasori was the only one to have asked—thought—of such a question. He gave out another mysterious smirk, half. "He'll come to a full-realization that he will want to be a part of Akatsuki."

"…What if he won't?"

"That's the most likely possibility. So when that happens, I trust that you _talk_ with him."

"Understood, Leader-sama."

"We'll give him a week to _realize_ that he's fit to become Akatsuki. Also, a week for us to truly see if he is capable enough. I trust once more that you'll be ready by then, Sasori?"

"Fully understood." Sasori said, nodding his head once, saying that he understood the situation perfectly.

"And to assist you," Sasori didn't see this coming. He didn't need any assisting to get the brat to join Akatsuki, most likely to drag him by his hair, literally. Though he still didn't know what this new member would look like, he already felt as if he'd have long hair.

Sasori raised up an eyebrow as the leader continued.

"Itachi and Kisame will assist you with this. But I assume that no assisting would be needed. I also wish to see that this recruitment would go as neatly as possible. Quiet, as well." Everyone found this a bit weird, the Leader of Akatsuki, asking for a mission to go as smoothly as ever? It's quite rare.

Itachi nodded slowly at this as his said partner gave off another toothy grin.

"That is it for now. Everyone, dismissed."

--

Everyone had made their way out of the room already and all that was left were two people. An orange-spiky-haired man and an azure-haired woman. She had a contented smile on her face as she placed a thoughtful hand on her partner.

"You gave some serious thought about Deidara-san already, Pein?" She asked, her lips curling up into a soft smile as the said man looked up at her and smirked slightly.

--

**A/N**

Thats for the first chapter, yeah. I hope you guys enjoyed this. The next update would be sometime soon, I'll see to it, if I'm not piled up with school work, etc. Well. Reviews are a must so that I'll know if this fic even is good enough to add a second chapter two, so yes.


	2. Homecoming

**A/N:**

Second chapter up. A bit soonish but I have classes starting this week so yeah. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **_**I do not own Naruto. MK does. If I do own it, Deidara would rule the world. **_

* * *

Chapter 2

"**Home Coming**"

Deidara leaned backwards, his hands behind his head as he leaned his back on the tail-feathers of the clay bird he was currently riding. He let out an inaudible yawn as he crossed his feet for a while. He was gliding smoothly through the skies. That's when he decided to take a little rest. He instinctively closed his eyes, both, since he'd already taken off the camera for a while.

The ex-Iwa-nin didn't know what to do now. He could go to some village and have fun there. But he's a shinobi, he needed to keep on moving, fighting, his blood lust had to be fed. He needed something. Some place. And the first thing that came into his mind was...

"Is that the borders of Konoha, yeah?" He murmured, an eye flinging open as he withdrew his current position to lean in forward slightly, one hand resting on the bird's clay head. He yawned once more. He couldn't keep on flying forever. That's why he dove his bird down to the forest below him. Konoha's gates near already.

He jumped down as the bird landed, he formed a hand sign which depleted said bird into a miniature one which he picked up and placed on his shoulder. He dusted his pants a bit and grinned, his head tilted. Konoha never had good alliance with Iwa. So no way would his home village tell Konoha now.

Both hands behind his head, as a sign of relaxation, he walked casually to the main road of the forest, he didn't like the idea of wearing gloves just to not attract attention, but Konoha probably hasn't seen a person with two mouths to spare. He blew on a stray stand of hair out of his face before continuing his little walk.

--

He finally reached the large gates of Konoha to be greeted by an empty post. He was sure someone guards these things. He shrugged his shoulders, its better off that no one's guarding their posts right now or they'll end up interrogating him. And this shinobi named Deidara did not have a good excuse aside from wanting to enter the village just to roam around freely. They would probably let him in, but his scratched hitai-ate would give all safety away.

The blonde now thought that Konoha-nin's were very very lazy to the extent of not guarding the gates. They'd be dead if an invasion were to happen.

His true reason on why wanting to visit one of the great shinobi village was: To restock on his clay and other tools, to get something decent to eat. He'd been eating soldier pills since he left Iwa, and even back then he kept eating them. Addiction to these pills wasn't healthy. And last, he needed new clothes.

Nothing was wrong with his current one, though, but he didn't like them anymore. He looked down, he was wearing black pants and a black top, he wasn't the one for an all-black ensemble so that's what drove him to buy new outfits.

Now, the problem was how he would pay for all of these. He was a shinobi after all, and shinobi, especially himself, were smart. He untied his hitai-ate, but not before he went into a corner. He snickered slightly to himself, forming another peculiar hand sign, and in a puff of smoke, his hitai-ate _henged _into an unscratched Iwagakure one.

"Not bad, yeah." Deidara told himself as he parted his hair a bit, a thick layer of bangs on the other side where his camera-eye-like-thing was attached before. He secured the knot on his hitai-ate and once more strode the streets of Konoha.

--

"Ero-sennin! Ero-sennin!" A blue-eyed blonde wailed, as he punched the air excitedly before leaping to a lamppost which would be overlooking the whole village. The boy in the eyes of his old friends had grown already. He grinned enthusiastically, his signature whisker-like birthmark's (?) still there. This was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The boy that left two and a half years ago to train under the great Jiraiya of the legendary sannin.

His jaw dropped as his eyes shone brightly, as he pointed hysterically to the great Hokage Mountain. "They got Tsunade-baa-chan's face there already!" He said partly amazed to see the face of the current Hokage and the greatest—possibly—medic nin. He was sure gone a long time because her face was already added to the great stone shrine.

"Naruto!" A female voice called out from down below as she looked up at the said blonde.

Said blonde looked down to see a pink-haired kunoichi, fist planted on her hips impatiently. He waved happily at her as he jumped down. He practically fell on her, but aside that, he had already caught her in a bear hug. She gave out a light chuckle as she hugged him back. It was good seeing him again.

She practically pushed him off. Naruto let out a laugh as he backed away a few steps for good measure. He bumped into someone—recklessly—and sent himself whirling around to see the impassive face of the Uchiha.

Naruto's eyes widened as he hugged Sasuke. The said raven-haired teen merely chocked in a laugh—hardly—as he strangled from the hyperactive blonde's grasp. He glared at him icily for a while before a smirk passed his features. "You bastard." He greeted.

"Nice to see you again too, Sasuke, heh." Naruto said idly, rubbing the back of his neck.

The merriment was over when Sakura decided to punch Naruto straight in the face. Literally.

"Owe, Owe, Sakura-chan! What was that for?!" Naruto wailed, as he rubbed his cheek. _She still got it after all these years? Eheh. _He thought as he was picked up by the collar by the aggravated pink-haired medic nin.

She slammed Naruto to a nearby wooden fence and growled lowly at him, "Konohamaru has full access to your damn perverted, highly, degraded, henge jutsu!" She said, throwing him to the other direction as well. He carelessly rolled over to the footing of the Uchiha.

Jiraiya was long gone already. He was probably looking for Kakashi or Tsunade for reports.

Sasuke pressed the hilt of his shoe on his face, kicking him aside before sneering slightly. He folded his arms, "You haven't improved one bit, loser." He said tauntingly. To Sasuke--and Naruto-- this was something good already.

Naruto felt the ground shake horribly beneath him as an angered Sakura marched towards him, hands clenched into a tight fist, ready to break his face. "Start running, idiot." The Uchiha told him dryly.

Naruto hurriedly got up to his feet, giving off a mocking salute to Sasuke. The Sharingan user resisted the urge to roll his eyes at this. And with that, Naruto made his escape. He was more than happy to see Sakura and Sasuke. His old teammates. But he still didn't want to get hit in the face by the Haruno. Her strength incredibly grew these past years. And that was plain scary.

--

Naruto passed by familiar stalls, waving at all the familiar faces that greeted him. He gave out a grin, as usual, and jogged his way to the different streets of Konoha. He was on his was to the famous Ichiraku Ramen House when he bumped—second time for the day—on someone.

His eyes shot open as his deep blue orbs were greeted by blue-grey ones, almost the same shade as his. He got back to his feet and looked down on the fallen person, wanting to apologize. At first he thought it was a he, but from the long hair, he immediately shifted thoughts that this person was a she. Her clothes resembled to a girl's too.

Said blue grey-eyed person wore something neat. A red short-sleeved shirt, layered underneath with a long-sleeved black one. The sleeves were loose on ends, she wore black pants, short pants that only reached up below his knees. And then a fishnet stocking-like sock-like thing on one of his feet with red ninja sandals.

Naruto's gaze went up to her forehead protector. What seemed to be an Iwagakure symbol. _So she is a shinobi.._ Naruto thought, rubbing the back of his head as his eyes turned to slits when the girl got up and picked up her fallen bag.

Double take. Naruto did a double take. It wasn't a girl. It was a he. With long flowing blonde hair. Tied into a half-ponytail. At first, he thought that she was related to Ino, but now realizing that that she was a girl, he scratched that thought out of his head and looked at him with awe.

"Oh, my bad, my bad, nii-san!" Naruto apologized, hands in front of him as the Iwa-nin that he so rightly accused for a woman tilted his head. Before muttering a low, "Don't worry about it, yeah."

Previous blonde walked off, his backpack slung on his back.

--

"One Pork Ramen!" Naruto said cheerfully, hand planted on the table as he sat himself on the middle stool. He was greeted by a probably-middle aged man who wore a white apron along with a friendly smile. "Oh hey—Naruto? Is that you!"

"When did you get back, Naruto-kun?" A more timid voice asked, as she looked at him from behind the counter, she had round brown eyes and a matching hair colour as well. "Just a few hours ago." Naruto beamed, grinning massively as he picked grabbed a pair of chopsticks and looked down on the bowl set before him.

"This one's on the house." The gruffy looking man said, grinning at him as Naruto practically drooled over the site of the food.

"Itadakimasu!" He said before noticing another person sit beside him. He looked away from his food for a while to look at the blonde from before. "Oi, nii-san!" Naruto greeted, one hand raised up as the said blonde looked over his shoulder to give off a crooked smile.

"Sorry about earlier," Naruto said, still cheerily as he slurped in his first few streams of ramen. He paused for a while to savor the taste. He never actually ate it during his training with Jiraiya and now was the best time to have it.

The Iwa-nin beside him merely ordered a cup of tea.

"What's your name, nii-san?" Naruto asked. He was the one, like always, to make friends even if they came from other villages. The former didn't speak for a while before responding, "Deidara, yeah." Naruto nodded thoughtfully, slurping in another heaping as he turned to the man called Deidara.

"Ah, Deidara-san, nice meeting you. You're not from Konoha, right?" He asked. He was still as stupid as ever. The forehead protector on the said person's forehead gave it all away.

Deidara offered a nod. He didn't feel so comfortable talking to another shinobi. But maybe this would be good for him. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, yeah?" He asked, Naruto was more than happy to start a conversation with his new 'friend'.

The whiskered lined boy nodded enthusiastically, "Future Hokage of Konoha."

Deidara grimaced slightly, the oblivious blonde beside him probably didn't notice this minor movement. He wasn't the one to be loving Kages. Also, to the point where he killed the Tsuchikage.

He covered that minor movement with a grin of his own as he uttered a short, "Good luck with that, Naruto, yeah."

--

A rather big _thing_ was standing upon one of the rooftops of Konoha. Seated on top of the thing was a rather calm looking boy. He looked like a boy. Short. Looked like a kid, too. He looked like a genin or some sort.

He was seated, semi crossed-legged, one foot hanging limply down the _things_ side. As the moonlight shown up above the child, it revealed a rather impassive redhead. The thing was actually a puppet. And this redhead was overlooking Konoha. Head tilted to the direction of Ichiraku Ramen.

Behind him are two taller men. One taller than the other and bearing a sharp grin, carrying a gigantic, fearsome looking sword.

The shorter man beside him had glowing red eyes as he rivalled that _kid's_ stare. But this red-eyed demon wasn't looking at the stall; he was looking at the great Hokage Mountain.

These three were Akatsuki. Sent to watch over their new recruit. Silently waiting. Patiently. (In Sasori's case, impatiently.)

--

Next Chapter:

These three Akatsuki members were sent to watch over Deidara for the given time limit of a week. A week and counting. What's in store for Konoha when they don't even realize that one of the deadliest criminals in the shinobi world was inside their village? The blonde idly discusses with himself while having an artistic conversation with a redheaded shinobi--a young-looking shinobi.

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Third will probably come in a few days. When I get the time. So yeah. Maybe within this week, too? Anyway. Reviews are appreciated, thank you very much.


	3. Realizations And Artistic Arguments

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Like said, it is within a week. Please enjoy this chapter. It was kinda fun to make.

SIDE NOTE:

Enjoy reading this chapter.

LAST NOTE:

Deidara's over-usage of 'yeah' is cool. Plus, I like it better than 'un'. 'Un' can be roughly translated to 'yeah'. So yeah.

--

Chapter 3

"Realizations and Artistic Arguments"

Sasori is impatient.

He was never a patient person. And asking him to wait is like torture and hell already. Aside from waiting, he hates to keep people waiting. He wasn't a very expressive person. Aside from the constant annoyance and irritation of being late; he doesn't say anything else aside from those so called emotions. But as he says it, no trace of such is there. He sounds as if everything is a burden. He thinks everything is boring. He thinks that everything is stupid. He thinks that being a shinobi is tiring. He thinks that waiting is stupid. He thinks. He not only thinks. But he knows. He knows that his soon-to-be partner would be more than he can handle. Would be someone that barks rather than bite. And would be immature. Childish. Stupid. Idiotic. He would be Deidara.

The puppet master was never one for new acquaintances. He wasn't one for people, either.

Akatsuki. He thought that the organization would be nothing more than killing. And it was. Yet somehow. He had a feeling that this dark organization was something more than that. They were like a family. A mother, a father, siblings. And Deidara was their newly adopted child.

Everyone in the Akatsuki had a different personality. One more than two, at least.

Each member had a unique outlook. A unique attitude, one more than two, again. And also a unique personality.

Sasori was of course the impatient brother. Impassive and ruthless.

Itachi was the little brother-sort-of-thing. Impassive and uncaring. Emotionless. And possibly fearless. Nobody ever made a wrong move to the Uchiha and lived.

Kisame was the perky brother. A bit enthusiastic and a bit caring. He's also the over-protective sibling. One that would back-up the little brother of the family, Itachi.

Kakuzu was the ever-so cheap big brother. He practically could swim in his money. The so-called treasurer of the Akatsuki. He's a competitive person. One that wouldn't want to loose—at anything. Kakuzu here is also a very—merciless killer.

Then there's the immortal named Hidan. The eldest, probably, a few centuries old already. But through his looks, he's like a 21 year old. Going back-- Hidan is the religious type of sibling. One that is foul-mouthed. And one that lacks respect. He respects his god named 'Jashin', but even so, he uses it as a threat and an insult.

Being partnered with Kakuzu was something he didn't like. And along with being immortal, Hidan and Kakuzu share a loathing brother-brother kind of relationship. Hidan is a masochistic sadist. And that is probably why he's the most—sane—insane—member.

Zetsu is the one person that has, or practically holds two personalities. The silent-like and obedient member of the so called family. A cannibal to that, as well.

The little brother Tobi. A perky, cheerful, and very much hyper kid. But all things have its purpose. And Tobi's is still like an unmasked subject.

Konan is the one woman in the Akatsuki. Their so-called mother. (Call her that and she'll probably break your face.) Right-hand of Pein. She is a mystery. A mystery left to be solved, but like all good mysteries, she shows hints.

Last but not the least, the man of Akatsuki. (Or so it seems). Pein. An orange-haired, spiky young man. One that is full of surprises. And one that is yet to be beaten in battle. He serves as the family's over-seer, the father and the leader. The leader who demands respect. And is to be given to as well.

Akatsuki is really filled with possibly the most interesting missing-nin there is. All mentally-unstable when it's about fighting, psychopathic killers, and anything but ordinary.

And a blonde ex-Iwa-nin was just about to join their ranks and be one of them. Be the newest member of their extraordinary family.

--

Deidara woke up the next day with what seemed to be confusion. He parted his hair, both sides falling on his shoulders and not a strand covering his eye. He looked down and saw that he was sleeping on a bed—first thought: _Where?_—second thought: _I've been captured, yeah!_

He himself doesn't know which is right. As he surveyed the room, it wasn't ninja-like. It wasn't a cell. And it was just an ordinary room. A guest room, perhaps. He plopped back down to bed, thinking that nothing is wrong. And nothing probably will go wrong.

But still, where was he? Where—_Konoha._ He was still in Konoha. But which part. He shifted sides on the bed, rolling over the side, his hair falling gently on his back as he peered down below. Nothing. Wooden floor. Aside that, nothing.

The only thing he could remember about last night was that he was escorted by a beautiful woman with long black hair and shining red eyes.

That's when a knock came at the door.

He lazily got up, rubbing his eye a bit sheepishly as he slid the door open to see a thoughtful looking girl, holding a basket in both hands. "Good morning, shinobi-sama." The girl greeted, bowing down low before looking at Deidara. "Your friend has paid for all the expenses for this place. So do not worry about anything. I am merely here for laundry."

Deidara was dumb-founded. He blinked at what the girl said. _Friend...? What friend? _"Which friend, yeah?" He asked, leaning on the doorframe as he looked at the girl curiously.

"The beautiful woman from last night, shinobi-sama." The girl responded, the manner of respect trailing on her voice and tone. "Just call me Deidara, yeah." The faux Iwa-nin said, grinning lightly at the girl who nodded. "If you say so, shi—Deidara-san."

She looked over his shoulder and backed away a few steps for good measure. "Do you need anything else?"

The blonde shook his head, "Sleep, yeah." He answered a bit quietly as the girl—brunette—bowed her head and then walked away. He slid the door closed and fully inspected the room.

The thought of why he even arrived in this hotel was beyond him. And then shinobi-instincts kicked in. He leapt to a corner, kunai in hand—mouth—and he quickly surveyed the area, that's when he felt 

something missing. His camera-eye-like-thing! He huffed and then figured out it was in his bag, nothing else was wrong aside from his paranoia.

He threw himself back on the bed, the kunai from before already placed in a table at the side of the rather comfy bed. He snuggled in slightly before a light amount of yellow hair fell on his face. "What happened last night, yeah?" He murmured, asking himself. He knew he wasn't wasted or anything stupid like that. He was an elite Iwa-jounin. Well, was an Iwa-jounin at least. Now, he was an elite Missing-nin.

He shrugged. And his body wasn't even complying to his thoughts right now. He felt tired. And his eyelids were heavy. And he slowly fell asleep.

--

Deidara was walking silently on an empty street in the great village of Konoha when some unruly idiot wanted to ruin it for him.

"Who are you, yeah?" He said, snarling slightly as he looked up at a figure with long black hair, flowing against the wind and shifty red-eyes.

The red-eyed figure stepped forward. And the blonde stepped backwards. He looked at the figure once more before his vision slightly shifted itself into a blurry one. Closing his eyes for a bit of relief, he opened them once more to face what seemed to be a dark-haired woman clad in a red kimono. Her eyes were that of red. Blood-red. And that just gave Deidara an eerie feeling.

He rubbed his eye sheepishly, blinking once more to see that his imagination—or eyesight—wasn't screwing with him. It wasn't. What he saw standing in front of him was a woman. With red eyes. If they weren't red, he'd already say that she had pretty eyes—but that red was scary. Eerie.

One hand of the woman's hand was slid inside her kimono as the other one was placed thoughtfully in front of her stomach. She stepped forward, and as soon as Deidara blinked, the woman was in front of him. Her eyes seemed to have swirled around for a bit and that was the last thing he saw. Red swirly eyes.

Deidara was caught by a tall man who carried him on his back. The man looked at the female as he smiled—no, grinned—or bore his teeth. He hauled Deidara on his back once more, one hand draping on his shoulder. The woman seemed to have re-shifted back into a redeyed demon. A demon with black hair tied back into a ponytail. And just like the tall man that was now carrying Deidara; he wore a long black coat that was up to his ankles. With red-cloud designs.

He—the swirly-eyed-wielder—looked at the other person. As the moon shone brightly, it revealed that the latter had blue hair and a skin to match. The former was none other than the Sharingan wielder. The red eyed demon.

The said wielder glanced over his shoulder and raised up a finger to the blue-haired man. The latter nodded and then grinned, bearing his teeth, as if, and then whirled around as the blonde he was carrying was now in front of him. He seemed to be awake, yet his eyes were distant and he couldn't even say a single thing. He was somewhat in a trance.

Itachi looked at the now-standing Deidara and rose up a hand as a glistening string-like creation glimmered through the moonlight. Deidara jerked forward vehemently before standing straight and looking sane.

As the Uchiha turned around, his eyes shifted once more, like always, and then landed on a short child who was standing a few good feet away from them. The said child walked in closer—and the moonlight, as always—revealed his true appearance. Brown eyes, scarlet red hair, lidded gaze, it was the impatient Sasori.

His finger twitched and the string that seemed to be attached to Deidara, speaking of the blonde, he started to take a few steps. The redhead took a good jump to one of the rooftops and practically became invisible due to the darkness. The blue-skinned Kiri-nin was gone as well and the only remaining people, albeit the fact that one was under a genjutsu, remained.

Uchiha Itachi took a reclusive step forward, form shifting once more to become that of a woman. The same as before. Black hair with red eyes and a red kimono.

She walked Deidara to a hotel—whatever place—and gave full instructions to the ones behind the counter. The chakra-stringed-controlled blonde was clumsily thrown to the bed as the door slid shut. Leaving him all alone.

The three glanced, involved in the crime, the crime that probably put Deidara into the hotel, stood on a pillar. Konoha was a quiet village. And these three had just broken in quietly and escorted a missing-nin that is to become the newest member of Akatsuki, too.

As usual, the shortest of the three sat on top of a large puppet whilst the red-eyed man stared impassively on the great Hokage Mountain. Kisame was merely looking at the moon.

--

Deidara practically threw himself off the bed. "Red eyes!" He yelled, "Demon, yeah!" He added frantically. Everything practically came rushing back to his head as he looked around, wide-eyed in the room. He took in a deep breath and huffed as he laid his head back on the comfy zone of the pillow.

Breathe in. Breathe out. His chest heaved in and out as he finally calmed down. He knew someone had put him under a genjutsu, the only thing he didn't know(along side a lot of other things) was that who it was. And one more thing—he also remembered being controlled.

His body moved without him wanting it to.

He knew something wasn't right. Maybe that's why Konoha was so quiet. Too quiet. They already knew that he was the one that killed Iwagakure's Tsuchikage and are planning on capturing him as well. But no, thats not highly possible. If it were like so, he would've already been captured.

And he wouldn't be put in such a beautiful and exclusive room.

Everything was kind of getting weird already. Weird for his taste. He stood up, putting the finger-less gloves on and sporting a shirt also, he jumped out the window. (Shinobi these days.)

He landed gracefully—of course--on solid ground as he looked around the place. He was unaware that his hair wasn't even tied up into its usual hair style, along with his hitai-ate. It was hanging loosely around his neck. But not forgetting to bring his bag of clay and other weapons, he leaped through a branch to begin his search for the good-for-nothings that put him in such a jutsu.

But he was thankful, a bit, without them, he would be sleeping somewhere ugly and cold right now. He shook his head. He shouldn't be thankful. They practically abducted him. Or he. Or they. Or whatever they were.

--

Itachi lazily perched himself on a cliff-top a few good meters away from the source of all these problems. He turned around to see the previous redhead, arms crossed and his lidded gaze bored as usual. "It was a stupid thing to do." He told the Uchiha flatly.

Their impassiveness rivalled each other. As usual.

"It was Kisame's idea." Itachi replied curtly, waving off the puppet master.

The said Kiri-nin over heard this and perked up a bit. "Itachi-san, let me remind you that it was just a crazy attempt to get the kid rivalled up." He said, grinning.

"So know he's frantically searching for the shinobi that attacked him the other night. And do you think the idea of joining Akatsuki would be thinking of joining or such?" The redhead said calmly and yet boredly.

"I have a feeling that Deidara-san would be thinking about such." Kisame said once more, the great sword Samaheda resting on his shoulders as if it wasn't that of a burden or something with massive mass.

Sasori lifted up his hand and then swayed it to the side slightly as he slowly and calmly walked away from the two. "Eh, Sasori-san, where are you going?" Said blue-haired water-nin grinned once more, his teeth in the way as usual as his white eyes looked at the said puppeteer.

"Konoha. They don't know me. And that is a good thing. I can walk in and out of that village and not get caught. Also, I want to talk with the brat." And with that, Sasori disappeared.

--

"Anko-sama! E-eh... slow down.." A skinny man said, his hands in front of him as he stood behind his counter, looking at the said woman. He was amused—astonished—that the woman could actually gulp down that much dango in the running minutes of an hour. No, it hadn't been an hour, Anko just came in 10 minutes ago, and with those 10 minutes, she had already, probably, eaten half of the store's supply of dango. And she was still at it.

Anko just bit on another stick, slurping down the said sweets. She then placed her hand down on the table, more like banged the table, and looked at the man before grinning. "One last more for the day!" She demanded as the man nodded hesitantly, placing another platter of dango in front of her.

What Anko really meant for "One last more for the day" was actually a gruff: "One last more for the morning!"

She finished, and then gulped down cold tea, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket. "That was good." She commented, as she _finally_ left. Brushing past people, a woman, again, she did a double take to find out that it was a man, passed her. She'd never seen such a person in the Leaf before. And his clothing certainly didn't help him. She eyed him suspiciously before retreating back. She did have a mission. And the Godaime Hokage would probably throw a fit once more if she found out that Mitarashi Anko was late because she was too busy eating dango.

Said blonde that passed Anko wore a wary grin on, as usual, and sat down on a stool beside the counter. He looked around the place and decided he'd buy dango, he was a fan of such sweets as well. Just one serving. "One takeout, yeah." Deidara ordered as the man from behind the counter looked at him curiously before nodding and handed Deidara a small box where the dango would be found.

With a shrug, Deidara got up and took what he just bought. He didn't like to eat in such a crowded place. So he decided that he'd eat it somewhere quiet. Somewhere like that park over there with, surpsingly, no people.

He had a confused look on, "Shinobi in Konoha are really busy these days, yeah." He murmured as two kids whizzed past him. Maybe shinobi, but little kids remained little kids and thus, the park was no longer empty.

He sat down on a bench under a shady tree and for once, remained quiet. He observed the surroundings and listened to the chirping birds. Konoha was a peaceful village. Not like Iwa which was a lot of hassle. If he were to stay here in the Leaf, he would certainly get used to it. But he was a ninja and he needed action.

"You're not from here are you." A voice said, the tone of it was obviously not in a question-like form but was more of a demand. Deidara thinking it was ANBU turned his head cautiously to look back to see that it wasn't any ANBU shinobi. It was merely a little kid.

"Shouldn't you be playing, yeah?" Deidara asked, he had already forgotten about his dango.

The said kid in question looked at him with a lidded gaze, muddy brown eyes and scarlet red hair that brushed against his forehead. He looked like a kid. If he was a shinobi, he would probably a genin. And so, Deidara thought he was a genin. Looking down on what the child had wore, it was a Suna robe. Clad in a Suna outfit all the way here? This guy must be a traveller, for what was going on in Deidara's head.

"What's the use of the palms in your hand?" The redhead asked, as if he could see through the gloves Deidara had worn. And as usual, his voice was monotonous and his face impassive.

"What palms, yeah?" Deidara murmured, now a bit on alert as he looked at the kid. "Shouldn't you be playing, yeah?"

"Shouldn't you be in Iwagakure?"

His question was countered with another one. And the kid's question was more difficult to answer. "You're a missing-nin of Iwagakure." He added, now sitting down beside Deidara, but leaving a few inches between them.

Deidara's visible eye widened slightly as his jaw fell a bit, _How'd he know, yeah?_

"How do you know that, yeah...?" He asked as he completely turned on his seat to look down on the boy.

"I'm an artist."

Deidara held in a snicker as he responded with a sarcastic, "Yeah, sure you are." With a brief pause, he wondered if this kid even knew the slightest meaning of art. "What's art for you, yeah?"

There was silence. And Deidara triumphantly thought that he'd won. But then, the short redhead said without the slightest tone of emotion; "...Something that lasts for an eternity."

Deidara obviously found that quite irritating. What idiot thought art would last for an eternity? "Ha, really? That's just a shame. Art's something that would only last for a mere second before disappearing forever."

"That's stupid."

"No, you're description for art's the one that's stupid, yeah. Art is something that can be enjoyed for a second."

"What's there to enjoy?" Deidara heard the slightest sneer from his artist acquaintance and that made his face turn. "Well, it's not like any kind of art could last for an eternity, yeah."

Sure, this was an irritating debate against two kinds of arts, but it was fun and amusing. Deidara obviously grew fond of the incoming conversation which made him grin slightly. "Have you seen fireworks, yeah?"

The redhead nodded.

"Well, that's art. One that would be enjoyed, again, for just a moment, yeah."

"Immortality is eternal. And _my _kind of art is immortal."

This highly intrigued Deidara. How could a genin from Suna speak like this? Of course, genin's were a bit naive and what not, but this kid somehow knew what he was talking about. _And _his_ kind of art? Did he mean jutsu? _Deidara thought, still grinning in the outside.

"Well, _my_ art is more fleeting. It goes down with a bang that could be appreciated by everyone, yeah."

"If no one gets to see it for more than a second, then how could they appreciate that?"

"I don't need them to appreciate it, yeah. I can do that myself, too."

"You're not making sense."

"Well, you're kind of art is stupid, anyways. Eternal? What art lasts for an eternity? That's just ridiculous, yeah."

The scarlet-haired genin found that amusing and his mouth curved up into a small smile, though his eyes we're still as bored-looking and lidded as ever.

"What's your name, yeah?" Deidara asked, taking the gloves off his hands. The kid knew he had palms already, what's the point in wearing them now?

"I need to go."

Deidara's mood slightly dropped as he looked at the boy who was now standing up slowly. "Well, see you around, yeah."

Said redhead's smile only grew a bit mysteriously at that, "I guess."

"Oh yeah, make that soon!" Deidara beamed as he watched his new friend's retreating figure.

Once the redhead was out of hearing range, he whispered something mysteriously, "Sooner than you think, brat."

--

Next Chapter: Deidara had finally met a fellow artist and that was something that lifted his mood. But when he meets someone in a tea shop somewhere outside of Konoha, he finally thinks it thoroughly if he would, or would not join the notorious Akatsuki. Deidara's (obvious) decision would be answered in the next chapter: "The Seventh Day".

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I hope you guys liked this chapter, the redhead from the last part is kind of obvious, right? ;D Well, if its not, good luck with finding out who it is! Yeah. Also, fourth chapter will be up in a day or two. Why? Cause it's finished. I did the this and the fourth chapter all in a day. Well, this chapter was half-done, I did it the other night but then figured out there was school tomorrow so I finished it today before taking a nap. So yeah. Fourth chapter will be up soon!

SIDE NOTE:

Thanks for the good reviews.

LAST NOTE:

Reviews are appreciated, thanks.


	4. The Seventh Day

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

As said in the previous chapter, this one, the fourth, was made in the same day as the third due to my boredom. It's kind of long, so yeah. I'm going for long chapters, well, as long as it can get and stuff.

SIDE NOTE:

Please be reminded that in the last chapter, the redheaded Suna-nin was Sasori and he is nowhere near Genin-rank. Well, just to tell you and stuff if some didn't get it.

LAST NOTE:

Enjoy this chapter!

--

Chapter 4

"The Seventh Day"

"Do you know what day tomorrow would be, Sasori-san?" A fanged man asked, grinning as the hilt of his gigantic and scary sword stuck out a bit from his shoulder. The said redhead looked down from his sitting position which was casually leaning on a tree, one foot dangling down from the branch.

He nodded quietly, not saying a word.

"How about you, Itachi-san?" He asked his other comrade, shifting around slightly. The Uchiha nodded.

"Kisame, it is obvious that tomorrow would be a Friday." Itachi said flatly, his eye's that of coal black. The Kiri-nin nodded, "We we're given this mission last Friday. So tomorrow would be the seventh and the last day."

The two impassive males nodded as the redhead looked idly at his purple-painted nails. "Tomorrow's the day that Leader-sama said we could shake him up a bit or drag him to the Base by hair if it's necessary." Kisame said rather happily, grinning.

"That won't be hard. The brat has long blonde hair." Sasori told him coolly, resisting the urge to roll his brown eyes at him.

"That is if he doesn't comply with the terms of joining Akatsuki." Itachi said in a deadpan as Kisame paced. The other two were calmly, as always, sitting down. Casually, to that, as well. Itachi was sitting down cross-legged on the grass whilst Sasori was on a branch.

"Sasori-san, didn't you talk to him yesterday? What'd he say about Akatsuki?" Kisame asked, he obviously wanted the kid to join—because seeing his slightly cheerful personality; he could turn Akatsuki upside down. But just as well, too, he would be slightly in favour for Sasori's partner.

"I didn't mention any matters ending to Akatsuki. It was merely an artistic chat."

Kisame's jaw dropped. He went inside Konoha. Talked to the blonde. And then left? And then left without saying a single thing about the organization he was asked to join?

"I merely said that I would talk to him. And I did. I didn't say that I was going to pry him into joining Akatsuki. The brat's annoying as it is."

"Sasori-san, orders were to help the kid realize he'd want to join Akatsuki."

"Orders were also; if he wouldn't join Akatsuki, he would be forced, whether he be knocked out on the spot and hauled back to Base, or just to simply drag him by his annoyingly long hair. Take your pick." Sasori told him rather impassively, still looking at his nails.

"Kisame, since you are eager to have this kid join Akatsuki without any hardships; then why don't _you_ talk to him, then?" Itachi finally said, getting up as he dusted his cloak off. The blue-haired Kiri-nin blinked, his small white eyes actually became a little bit smaller, so to speak, as he received a glare from the Uchiha. A glare which contained the bloody-red colour of the Sharingan.

"If you say so, Itachi-san." Kisame said, grinning slightly as he finally eased up, his sword slung on his back as he stopped his spacing—fortunately.

--

Deidara was woken up with one of his creations. His so called _art_. A fluttering bird landed on top of his head, and due to the conversation he had earlier with the short Suna-nin whom he thought was a genin (Which was obviously not, along the lines of being Akatsuki, Deidara didn't know that he wasn't a genin and that he was Akatsuki.). Along with his paranoia of ANBU and other Leaf nin's, he set up several guards. He didn't want to risk it with a sealing jutsu for his door, still. So he perched a fluttering clay bird just in front of the door last night for good measure.

And now, he was woken up by the same clay bird which twiddled and hopped on his head. It certainly wanted its creator to get up and running. Shinobi shouldn't be lazy. Deidara waved a hand around before forming a hand sign that stopped the small bird from fluttering around like some guard dog—bird--. After that, he snuggled back up to his soft pillow and comfy bed, he wanted to sleep more.

After a few minutes of finally getting back to sleep, a knock was heard on the other side of the room. Deidara merely waved his hand again, thinking that it was another one of his guard birds, no poof, nothing. So he just huffed in a muffled, "Come in, yeah."

The door silently slid open and standing in front of it was the brunette, one of the staff in the hotel, carrying a brown laundry basket. She bowed down low, but then thought that the shinobi laying in the bed was asleep. She was instructed by the head of the place to wake up said shinobi, because those were the instructions of the dark-haired woman the other night. To wake him up on Friday.

She scurried along side the bed, and then reached the window, she ran her hand on the curtain as she peered on the drapes, opening the window to reveal a slightly dark day. It was going to rain soon. So she decided to keep it closed. She tied the curtains into two halves, before waiting by the door.

"U-um, Deidara-san, I was asked to wake you up today." She said hastily, waiting for him to stir.

Deidara slowly got up, his hair getting on his face. "By who, yeah?" He asked with a yawn.

"Ah, I'm sorry for the interruption, but these were instructions from the same lady the other night."

"What's your name, yeah?" Deidara asked, rubbing his eye with the back of his wrist.

"Omuko Hanami." She replied politely as Deidara just nodded. "Ok, Hanami-san, I'll be down in a while. Tell them I'll be checking out today, yeah."

"Yes." Hanami said, bowing down and grabbing the laundry basket from earlier then slid past the door.

Deidara plopped back down to bed, but after five minutes, he couldn't find the tiredness anymore so he decided that he would leave this morning. Although Konoha was a nice place, he couldn't stay here forever. He was already given a strange look from that violet-haired woman from the Dango Shop yesterday, along with his new acquaintance, the young Suna artist.

Fixing his hair into a full ponytail, out of the usual half-one, he looked at the mirror rather proudly. Whether he liked looking like a girl or not, it amused him to see that he was a good-looking shinobi. Well, he was already full of himself, thus far. But still, he liked the look on the new hair style, he looked like a woman. And weird as that is, it amused him.

He picked at his hair slightly and turned back sideways to see the pony-tail which was tied rather high. And then now pulling at a certain strand which came loose, he looked finished already. His hair was tied into a slightly high pony-tail which didn't even drape on his back and his usual thick layer of 

bangs was nowhere in sight. The only sight of bangs was a thin lock that fell on his right-side of the face. He didn't wear his scope because he wanted to try this look. Deidara really is a conceited person. A vain one, yes. He grinned primly as he blew on the sole strand of hair that was loosely hanging in front of his blue eye. Strapping the bag of clay on his left leg, he picked up his small back-pack and with the clothes he wore, he was all set. He wore the normal black pants and a short-sleeved shirt with net. You could never go wrong with wearing shinobi-style net.

Closing the door behind him, he was greeted by a few curious glances and stares. Obviously, these people debated inside their mind if he was, or was not a female. He wasn't. But he liked confusing them. He was a shinobi. And even without using a Henge, he could pull off the usual feminine look. Save the fact he didn't have a chest. But that didn't matter.

For once he was proud of his long locks. And the matter of whether he was conscious to the fact that his Iwa-hitai-ate was now out of _henged_ form was still something, so he decided to put this inside his back just for good measure.

--

Grinning at Hanami he waved, "Nice meeting you, yeah!" He said as he stepped out of the building, the girl just nodded and wore a soft smile. She herself found the blonde interesting. The hotel never had such guests before. And Deidara was a weird thing. An interestingly amusing thing.

On his way out, Deidara passed by a certain group of shinobi, maybe Chuunin-in ranked. That was when he started hating his new hairstyle. "Ino! Ino!" A pink-haired female called out, waving behind his back.

He stiffly turned around, ready to receive a jaw-dropping expression from her. And that's what he got. The pinkette's jaw dropped and her green eyes widened. "Sorry, I thought you were my friend." She apologized. Deidara merely gave her an uncertain grin. "You're not from here are you? Well, I'm Haruno Sakura. You must be?" The girl named Sakura asked, tilting her head curiously as she smile at him.

"Hey, Sakura! What took you so looo--What the hell?!" A pale-blonde girl said, stopping in her first sentence as her jaw dropped like her friend. She looked at Deidara for a while who seemed to be so out of place already.

"You two do look alike, Ino." Sakura commented, pointing a finger at him.

"The only difference is that that one is a he, and Ino's a she." A very bored tone said as he trailed lazily behind Ino, one hand rubbing the back of his neck as his spiky black hair stood out.

"That's a _man?!_" Both girls said, pointing at Deidara again. Sakura was the first to regain her composure when Ino just huffed and dusted her skirt otherwise. "What's your name?" Ino asked primly, looking at him.

Sakura and Shikamaru were also eager to that fact. It was obvious he wasn't a Konoha shinobi. So either they were horribly suspicious or just wanted to make friends, Deidara didn't know. He'd go with the second one. Naruto was very nice to him in their first encounter as well.

"Deidara." He replied, grinning at the three of them. Sakura then let out a breath, "_You're_ Deidara...?" It seems like she's already heard of the blonde.

"You know him, Sakura?" Ino asked her peering over her shoulder as the medic nin nodded. "Not really. Naruto's the one who met him earlier this week." So Naruto was to blame for his certain 'fame' around Konoha. And as if by chance or just speaking of the devil, the hyperactive blonde fell from one of the roof tops.

"Ouch... Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto apologized as he was violently thrown to the wall a few good feet beside them. This happened twice in a week. Wait, twice within three days. A new record, maybe. Naruto picked himself up as an annoyed Sakura rubbed her elbow, apparently, Naruto had fallen on top of her. "Sakura-chan! Konohamaru and I were just--"

Major pain. Sakura just punched him straight in the face. "Didn't I tell you to stop teaching Konohamaru stupid, perverse things?!" Sakura demanded, picking him up by the collar to growl at him. "This time, it wasn't anything like the Oiroke—and look! Deidara-nii-san's here!" Naruto said, as if he was saved by the rogue(for now) Iwa-nin.

"...Huh? So Naruto and the Deidara guy really have met...?" Ino said, arms crossed as she watched the large crater from below their feet. Sakura really was getting strong. And Deidara merely blinked at her strength.

Naruto scurried away from Sakura's grasp to stand, huffing, in front of Deidara. "Nii-san, where you going?" Naruto asked, his blue eyes locking gazes with him. "And you look like Ino today! Haha!" Naruto added, practically falling on the ground as he laughed his head off. He was of course stepped upon by Ino.

_Note to self: Never wear hair like so, ever, ever, ever, AGAIN. _Deidara thought glumly as he held the strap of his bag. He just looked down on Naruto. "I need to go already." Deidara said with an unsteady grin as he stepped back to head towards the gates.

"You scared Deidara-nii-san away, Sakura-chan!"

"Shut up, Naruto before I scare _you _this time."

--

Deidara really didn't like this day. Luck was not on his side for today. First on his agenda for extremely annoying and no-luck things were back in the hotel where people gave him such looks. Second was even bothering to get to know Naruto. Third was getting to know his friends. Fourth was when they found out about his name. And the present situation was getting tackled by a gigantic dog.

He kicked at it for sometime as it growled. He was already home-free, just a few steps and he would pass the large gates. But noooo, luck really wasn't with him. The next step he took, a large dog had trampled him, pinning him down while it panted.

And then now, he was staring at Sharingan eyes. At first, he thought that this was the woman from the other night: Black hair and red eyes. But then her hair was a bit curled. So she couldn't be. But she was obviously a ninja with the Sharingan and Sharingan was the source of their Genjutsu knowledge.

"Kiba, get Akamaru off the boy." That's when Deidara fell into a conclusion that this woman wasn't an Uchiha. The whole Uchiha clan was killed a few years back. And even that kind of news travelled in Iwa. He looked relieved, brushing his pants as he looked warily at the group.

A group consisting of their Jounin-in-charge sensei, the one he had recklessly thought was an Uchiha, a brunette with what seemed to be a gigantic canine, another boy with dark shades, arms crossed 

mysteriously. He couldn't even catch what colour his hair was. And then a pale-looking kunoichi with matching eyes, pale as well.

"Sorry about the trouble," Their sensei said, looking at him as the other three just stared at him oddly.

"It's fine, yeah. Sorry for getting in your—way, yeah." Deidara replied coolly, grinning slightly as he rubbed the back of his head, careful enough not to mess his so called 'new' hairstyle. Kiba looked at him before grinning, the boy seemed to bare fangs, on both sides, or what not.

"Ah, sorry about that! Akamaru thought you were Ino." Really. Did he really look like that Ino person? _What the hell do I look like?! I do not look like that Ino, yeah. Leaf nin's really are stupid these days, yeah._ Deidara thought, but hid it with another grin.

"That happened earlier, yeah."

"K-Kiba-kun, I-ino-chan has lighter hair..." A meek voice said from behind to reveal a navy-blue haired girl, blushing slightly of shyness at the new comer. Come to think of it, Akamaru had a good sense of smell, and he obviously knew what Ino Yamanaka smelled like. But—maybe the dog felt something wasn't right.

The girl's statement received a nod from the mysterious looking, clad in thick jackets, person in the back.

"You're right," Kiba said warily, patting the giant dog's head as Hinata just ducked her head.

"We've got to hurry. We're set to be in debriefing by Tsunade-sama." Kurenai said, passing by her students and the Iwa-nin. The other two male teenagers nodded as Kiba mounted on his gigantic dog and sprinted back towards Konoha. Shino followed, a bit too casual and slow to be compared to his sense and to the brunette.

He looked back at Hinata who stood side-ways from Deidara. She bowed down shyly, "S-sorry for the c-confusion, s-shinob-s-san." Hinata stuttered out as Deidara nodded. "I'm Deidara, yeah." He said, grinning.

"H-Hyuuga H-hinata," Hinata replied shyly, ducking her head as she passed by Deidara. A Hyuuga. Deidara met a Hyuuga. A shy one, to that, as well. Along with being slightly cute—he just smiled to himself before finally getting out of the gates.

--

Deidara encountered an interesting tea shop on his way out of the Fire Country. He didn't know where else to go, and he didn't see his friend, so maybe he could find him somewhere here. Or not. But he forgot, he didn't grab breakfast and he was starving already.

Entering the shop, he saw an odd looking figure at the back, with a brown hat, straws hanging on either side, he also wore a weird type of clothing. Black coat with red clouds, outlined in white. He shrugged that off—he was sure he knew what that looked like, but he forgot, seriously.

Finally getting his tea, he sat beside the man, a table away form him, at least. Clipping his chopsticks apart, he grinned slightly, like always and then started to eat his ramen. He then saw the man glance at him curiously before he stood up and sat beside him. "Deidara of Iwakgakure, no?" He asked, an obvious grin on his face, but wasn't so clear because of the paper straws hanging on his hat.

Deidara really didn't know what was going on these days. First the Suna-nin, now this other one? "What's it to you, yeah?" Deidara said, not looking up from his ramen.

"Have you ever heard of the organization Akatsuki, Deidara-san?" He asked. Deidara found this oddly annoying. The man knew of his name, but he didn't. Just like with the Suna-nin, again. "I don't think it's fair that you know my name while I don't know yours, yeah."

The man just grinned more at this before taking off his hat to reveal dark-blue hair with pale blue for the colour of his skin along with small white eyes and--sharpened?—teeth. "Kisame." He said, nodding to Deidara who just shrugged.

"Back to the question, have you heard of the organization Akatsuki?"

So that's why this Kisame person's coat looked so conspicuous. Deidara looked at the man's fingers and held in a snicker, he was wearing purple nail-polish. Who wore purple nail-polish, in the male's state, that is.

After a few snickers, he nodded. "The notorious organization which only holds up dangerous S-class missing-nins, yeah?"

Kisame nodded curtly. The guy knew more than he can chew, at least, Deidara seemed promising for him already. But he couldn't help noticing the way he wore his hair, the last time he checked, it was in a half-pony-tail with his thick bangs covering his face. Now, not even the bangs covered his face, only a thing strand of hair hanging down. "We want you to join, Deidara-san."

Talk about being blunt and out-right straight.

Deidara took a few moments to grasp that, did he just say Akatsuki wanted him to join? "What's in it for me, yeah?" Apparently, the blonde _was_ smart. Kisame smirked, or grinned, whichever would pass off as one, and stared at him, "A lot of perks actually. But Leader-sama made it clear that you will be the newest recruit, along with a more powerful replacement for the last member."

Deidara nodded thoughtfully and looked at the Kiri-nin as if asking him to 'go on'. "Everything else will be discussed inside the Base if you want to join. Whether you like it or not—you _have_ to join."

The blonde knew that Akatsuki was famous. And maybe Akatsuki knew that he killed the Tsuchikage. But still, he was a shinobi with nowhere else to go. And he needed to shed some blood, maybe. "Also, your interesting jutsu and your killing of the Yondaime Tsuchikage is very interesting. Along with amazing." Kisame continued on.

"How did you know, yeah?"

"Leader-sama knows alot of things. And Akatsuki knows things, many things."

He received a nod from the blue-eyed blonde.

"So will you join?"

"Why, in a hurry, yeah?"

Kisame smirked. "Yes. I supposed your answer doesn't matter because you _will_, like it or not, join Akatsuki."

"Then I'll join, yeah!" Deidara beamed, grinning at Kisame happily. Kisame returned the grin with his own toothy one. "Good. We need to leave now to meet up with two other members that have been watching you later."

He blinked. "You guys were watching me all the while, yeah?"

Kisame gave him a mysterious look. He wanted to say yes, for all his life, but he just responded, "Only in your time in Konoha. But Leader-sama knows of your acts in Iwa."

With that, Kisame walked out of the tea shop, motioning for Deidara to follow him. He put on his hat as he led the shorter-ninja beside him. Kisame was tall and Deidara only stared at him, looked up, at least, inside the shop, Kisame was sitting down, but right here, outside, he's standing up and he's kind of tall. To say the least.

The shark-looking-ninja peered over the hat as he started to walk. Deidara followed and soon after, they reached a clearing.

"You've finally gotten your way, Kisame, the brat's not even unconscious this time." A voice from behind said impassively. Deidara could only stare at the face where the voice came from.

--

Next Chapter: Deidara and Sasori have finally met! Along with Kisame and Itachi. He's met three, but not fully acquainted yet. Now, it's time to head back to base to meet the rest of the members! A new 'family' awaits the blonde. Stick around for the next chapter; "Welcome To The Akatsuki".

AUTHORS NOTE:

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. The next one will probably have most of the Akatsuki. Thank you again for the reviews, it keeps me going.

LAST NOTE:

Reviews keeps me going, so review, thanks. :D


	5. Welcome

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been holding this chapter up for two weeks, so sorry! Half-a-writer's-block kicked in and yeah. Plus, this week, I was sick. And still am. Recovery's pretty good. Anyways. Enjoy this chapter, puppets!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, darn it. If I did, there would so be a lot of DeiSaso scenes and GaaNaru.

SIDE NOTE: I hope you guys enjoyed this, the sixth chapter is going to be up soon. And, yeah. Enjoy this one, loves.

**WARNING: **Over-usage of the word 'yeah'. It sounds cute, right? ;D

* * *

Chapter Five

"Welcome"

_But Onee-chan! I dun' want to be a shinobi!_

_Dei-chan, being a ninja is exciting..._

_But shinobi like Oto-san and Kaa-san dies! Onee-chan! Don't die, too!_

_Dei-chan, skilled shinobi don't die. You'll be safe. I'll teach you and you can create artistic jutsu's._

_But onee-chan! I like staying here at home and moulding sculptures in the rooftop... yeah..._

_Aww. Dei-chan! You CAN create more beautiful art with jutsu. I can tell that you'll be a wonderful artist. You'll also be a very strong ninja._

_But one-chaaaan... being ninja is scary! I don't want to die..._

_You'll see, Dei-chan. You'll enjoy it._

_But you'll protect me! You won't leave! You'll really stay and be the shinobi, not me... I'll just be the artist._

_Dei-chan, the reason that I want you to learn different kinds of jutsu's is the fear that something bad might happen. Please understand this, Dei-chan._

_But—You promised you won't leave... You'll protect me..._

_Don't worry, Dei-chan. You'll like it..._

-;-

"It's been a week already," A feminine voice called out softly from the darkness of the shadows as a figure sat on a chair, hands in a mismatched crossed pattern, fingers intertwined with the other. He looked at the female with grey ringed eyes and the glisten of silver passed for a moment until darkness fell upon the room once more.

"Sasori and the other two are soon to come back with the new recruit." His voice murmured on coolly, as his eyes looked up at the beautiful kunoichi resting calmly on one of the chair's arms, he placed a hand lightly on her lap as he gave off a slight smirk. "Worried for Deidara?"

"Of course not, Pein. I'm worried for the organization." She replied curtly yet very calmly, as her arms rested on her lap disarmingly. "Deidara is going to be a very important aspect of Akatsuki, don't worry, Konan."

The girl—Konan—merely gave him a silent nod and a soft smile as she tucked a stray lock of hair under her ear.

-;-

"What are you doing here, yeah?!" An aggravated voice said, pointing at a shorter shinobi clad in an ankle-length black cloak with red clouds outlined with white. He was wearing Akatsuki clothing. He was standing face-to-face with a short redhead who looked just as stoic as the raven-haired man beside him.

"Ah, so you two _have_ met, eh, Sasori-san?" Kisame grinned, looking at Deidara and Sasori. Deidara seemed to be shocked to see the kid he thought as a Suna-genin to be Akatsuki. Genin's were _not_ Akatsuki ranked. As he took a few steps back, Sasori took two forward, his hands were dangerously inside his sleeves.

"We need to hurry up before the Leader gets impatient." Sasori stated flatly and emotionlessly as his lidded gaze fell upon Deidara who seemed to be in so much shock he forgot he was invited to the deadliest ninja organization in the whole ninja world. "Are you coming or not, brat?" He said dryly and in a deadpan, though his voice was calm, it was still monotonous and his face—why does such a killer look so innocent?

"Coming where, yeah?" Deidara said, regaining a bit of composure—if he does have any—and turned to answer him. "Where are you taking me, yeah?" This was when Sasori got annoyed with all the '-yeah' after every possible phrase and statement. And to think that he would be Deidara's partner for a long time. Best to get used to it rather than to let the manic blonde enjoy it.

"To Akatsuki, where else?"

Deidara nodded solemnly, "Oh, yeah..." He remembered, scratching his cheek as he grinned slightly. But he was still delirious that he was to join such ranks already. Happy and ecstatic. Akatsuki would be a hell of a life.

"Where's the base, yeah?" He asked, looking at the three if them; his stare was repelled by a glare, a grin and a flat expression. "Amegakure. The village of the Rain."

Deidara tilted his head at this.

And the three Akatsuki in front of him all thought about the same thing:

_He's going to get himself killed soon with his idiocy._

"Well? What're you three waiting for, yeah?" The blonde stated cheerily as he looked at the present Akatsuki members. "Ame's over there, right? So let's get going, yeah." Deidara was a very complicated person. A moment ago, he seemed totally delusional and a bit complex; now, he was obviously just excited about Akatsuki.

"Right. We've extended our visit here in Konoha already," Kisame murmured, hiding in a grin beneath the large collar of the cloak.

Looking at Itachi for some answers, the raven-haired man nodded as he jumped to the first tree branch he spotted, soon, his partner followed suit along with the redhead. Their speed was great. Deidara could've asked himself how he'd even keep up. Looking back, Sasori could get the impression Deidara wasn't too thrilled of getting left behind, thus, his change of speed.

He waited for Deidara to catch up before increasing once more, _Fast bastards, yeah._ Deidara could already get the feeling his relationship with the redheaded little demon of the Akatsuki wouldn't be a ray of sunshine. He skid to a stop when the lead—Itachi—stopped, his Sharingan now visibly active as he turned to regard Kisame for a while. With a silent and arrogant 'hn', the ones form behind stopped and silence fell over them.

Looking down, they spotted three familiar chakra circulations. Well, Kisame and Itachi did. Rapidly doing hand seals for a Genjutsu, Uchiha Itachi looked impassive as ever as the said jutsu took place, it covered them, and masked their presence from the new comers. Kisame turned to Sasori and gave him what seemed to be a grin as he turned to face Deidara, Sasori shook his head, knowing what was to come—They couldn't put Deidara in action _now_. The leader would leave the blond idiot for inspection along with his jutsu's. So the (ex) Iwa-nin could only watch at what was to come to these unexpected shinobi—Or maybe not shinobi—But the chances were, for Deidara, that these three were shinobi, why would Itachi put up a Genjutsu if they weren't?

Taking a step back, he almost stumbled off his footing, but oh so gladly, or sourly, Sasori grabbed him by the hand and hauled him back up, for a shinobi, Deidara wasn't very graceful. He wasn't very stealthy either.

Peering down, and having been assured that the Genjutsu was elite-thus, being created by none other than the great Uchiha prodigy, Deidara took a half-step forward to see two oddly familiar people. A whisky blonde and a pink-haired Kunoichi. Along the lines was a tall and spiky-haired man, currently holding up an orange book.

He looked at Deidara for a moment, as if knowing he was there. Deidara reluctantly took a step back as Sasori pulled him for the second time, hissing, "Stay down, brat."

So the great Akatsuki were hiding from three pampered Konoha Shinobi. No. Something must be up for them to stay silent. Something dangerous, or Akatsuki wasn't in the mood to do some fighting after staying in the pleasant (Really, it was unpleasant for them) village of Konoha.

-;-

Earlier that day, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi were called in for their newest mission. Sasuke, long after Naruto departed to train with Jiraiya, has been transferred to another squad, a squad whereas it prepares him to become a well trained ANBU. So then, there were three left in Team 7. Now consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi, no longer team 7, they are now Team Kakashi. A team where there is no more student-teacher relationship, no more, Teaching-Teaching-Student, they were all going to train as equal shinobi. As shinobi from the same village, Konoha. They were now a new and powerful team, one that would train to excel in any aspects being a shinobi.

Medical Jutsu for the Pink-Haired Kunoichi.

Absolute training for Uzumaki Naruto for his goal towards the greatest rank in any village, to become Hokage.

And then there was Hatake Kakashi. The great Copy Ninja who wasn't called "Copy-nin" for nothing.

All three were summoned by the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. Haruno Sakura's current master in Medical Jutsu, along with being the first female Hokage in Konoha.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, why'd you call us up?" Naruto murmured, eyes turning into slits as he rubbed the back of his head. He got a hard, very hard, nudge from the now-Taijutsu specialist, Sakura. "Ouch—Sakura-chan! What was that for?!"

"Naruto, _shut the heck up_!" Sakura barked, pulling him closer to her face before letting him go violently, the force almost made him fly out the window. Kakashi merely looked at his book before shutting it close, turning to Tsunade, he nodded.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade started as she put her fingers in a crossed pattern, looking over her desk to address the blonde. "Eh?" She received a different reply, rather than from what was coming. "Answer me!" Tsunade barked as Naruto instantly shifted and nodded, "Y-Yes…?"

"Properly!"

"Yes!"

Tsunade let out a smirk before she looked at the Kunoichi, "Haruno Sakura."

"Yes."

"You two along with Hatake Kakashi will be part of Team Kakashi." She said, putting her hands down to look at both of them, Naruto tilted his head slightly, "Huh?" The blonde woman let out a groan.

"Team Kakashi, Naruto." Shizune repeated, smiling uneasily at him as Naruto murmured something again.

"It means we will be training together as equal shinobi." Came a cool reply from the formidable Copy-nin. "Oh--" Naruto nodded. "Oh!" He then sported a grin and nodded more enthusiastically. "Cool!"

"Now for your mission—" Tsunade interrupted.

Naruto's eyes practically sparkled as he clasped his hands dramatically. "What is it, Tsunade-baa-chan?" He said excitedly.

"A trip."

"What do you mean, shishou?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Sunagakure. You've heard of their newest Kazekage, yes? You three will gladly represent Konoha during the new Kazekage-sama's initiation ceremony."

"You mean Gaara-san?"

"That's right. You'll be meeting up with Gaara-kun in Suna and will be helping with the festivities."

"Understood."

"This will be an A rank mission, due to the possible up-roar from other countries, as shinobi, always stay on your guard."

A nod.

"Does anyone… feel the need to object?" Tsunade said, before stomping something on a scroll, her golden eyes landed on Naruto who seemed oddly quiet. The whiskered blonde grinned and punched the air triumphantly.

"I'm all pumped up! I can't wait to see Gaara after all these years!" Naruto cheered, as he jumped up and down from his spot.

Naruto and Gaara actually held a mutual understanding, each to his own right. And once more, Naruto would be meeting the same teen that had the same fate as him. The same teen that aimed for Kage. The same teen that learned to love who he is because Naruto himself taught him that other people was important. The red-haired insomniac whom Naruto greatly admired and looked up upon. The same boy whom he was dying to see.

-;-

As Sakura put on her gloves and tightened the grip on them, she let out a 'hn' and took a stance. Naruto, otherwise, created 5 kage bunshin already whilst Kakashi tucked the book he was reading in his back pocket. "Uchiha Itachi…" He said slowly and sourly as he went over and sent a glare at the said Uchiha.

The Uchiha in question merely looked at him impassively, hands tucked dangerously inside his cloak as his face remained completely blank an uncaring. Beside him was a taller man, blue in skin color with gills on both sides along with a sharp and toothy grin. He let out a disturbing cackle as he turned to face the three, Samaheda in hand. "Nice meeting you again, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." He addressed Naruto.

Sakura turned to look at Naruto, whose hands were clenched tightly, _Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?_ She asked herself, _No, Naruto can't be…_ A few reclusive steps back, she turned to look at Kakashi and then at Itachi. "…Copy-nin." Came a cold and flat deadpan as Itachi shifted his _hitai-ate_ slightly to reveal his lone Sharingan eye. Swirling already before taking form.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi demanded, looking at both of them with distaste, he dug into his back pocket, readying two shuriken.

"Throwing those shuriken will get you all killed, Copy-nin." A different voice. A voice that sounded deep and sharp(Reason's why, because he's in Hiruko, if some didn't get that.), he felt a new presence behind him as he saw Sakura levitated in the air and wrapped around cold hard metal-like tail.

"Sakura-chan…!" Naruto exclaimed, already up for making a Rasengan.

"The girl's not dead. She's merely passed out." The puppet master told the blonde disarmingly as he shifted around and let go of the Kunoichi, throwing her to a nearby tree, whereas one of the clones swiftly used a shunshin to catch her.

"From one of your poisons, Sasori-san?" Kisame smirked, Samaheda resting on his shoulder. A gruff voice replied, "No."

"Then she's alive," The Kiri-nin nodded, as he pointed a finger at Kakashi.

"Pick her up now and leave. Report this to Tsunade and you three are good as dead." Itachi said monotonously, iciness trailing over his voice as he glared at them. His Sharingan swirled around and took form of the Mangekyou Sharingan and then turned to look at both Naruto and Kakashi, putting them into an ultimately powerful Genjutsu.

"They'll be forgetting about this encounter for some time, that'll give us enough time to get back to Ame, and for them to head to their destination." Itachi said, glancing over his shoulder to look at Kisame who nodded, Sasori recoiled the tail, and then with his hunched form, crawled towards the others.

Deidara jumped down from the tree branch, sporting a slight grin. He turned to the Uchiha who threw him an icy glare, which made his grin sink back into a slight frown. Looking at Sasori, his mouth fell open.

The Sasori, which greeted him a while back, was short—beautiful, even, and just—nice looking. This new one here was ugly, hunched, and ugly. Again, it was ugly. "What the _hell_ is that, yeah?" Deidara said, looking oddly at _it_, the Sasori-_it_.

He heard slight laughter as the _it's_ back opened, to reveal the short and beautiful redhead. "You're not so bright, are you, brat?" Sasori told him coolly, getting out of Hiruko and taking out a scroll. "It's a puppet." He added, not waiting for Deidara's idiotic reply, like always.

Deidara tilted his head to the side, "It's not good to make it loll like that," Sasori said, hiding in a smirk as he pushed Deidara's chin up with his painted finger, he heard a _clank and click_ and that was enough to get Deidara back to his senses. "You—Were—Wow…Yeah…" He paused for a while then rubbed his chin, "Ouch, yeah! That hurt, you little red-haired bastard!"

"Sasori, brat."

"What?" Deidara demanded gruffly, putting his free hand on his waist as he looked at him. "My name isn't 'red-haired bastard.' It's Sasori. Sa-So-Ri." He indicated, exactly dividing his name into three syllables as Deidara grinned.

Kisame hid in his own laughter, these two were going to be great partners, if Deidara would live that long, or even get to Ame, at least.

"Ok, Sasori-_kun_." The blonde nodded cheerily, he was sick of being called 'brat' instead of his name. This made the impassive redhead twitch. "I mean, Sasori-_chan_."

"As an Artist, you aren't very creative, are you, Deidara?" Sasori told him quietly as Itachi looked up at the sky, glaring at it, Kisame just looked at the bickering pair that seemed to out bicker Kakuzu and Hidan.

"Why you short little bastard! Ok, Sasori-_sama_! That better?" The blonde snarled angrily, mustering a glare. Sasori smirked, visibly. "And you call yourself an artist…"

"Ok, Sasori-no-danna… better, Sasori-danna?!" Deidara was seriously getting pissed already at this and would not even back down, he wouldn't back down, this redheaded bastard is so not going to piss him off and get away with it.

Kisame couldn't hold his laughter in as he snickered, Sasori threw him a glare before facing towards Deidara. "That's better, brat."

"—Deidara, danna, yeah." That was when Sasori realized that under pressure, Deidara actually forgets to add his 'yeah'. How amusing. And he was already getting the hang of it—calling Sasori 'danna'. "What, brat?"

"It's Deidara." He repeated himself before sporting a grin. Two could play this game. He would just call Sasori 'danna' out of the annoyance he could make, _That stuck-up jerk probably enjoy being addressed as danna… yeah… damn bastard._

Sasori's head tilted to the side, and he nodded. One nod to say that he agreed, "Now that that's done with, let's get going, brat. Leader-sama isn't the one to be kept waiting."

Deidara let out a groan, "I said it's Dei—" His mouth was covered by a larger one, blue in color as he felt himself getting dragged to the nearest branch. "Better stop arguing here, you two might attract people." Kisame grinned, putting Deidara down as the blonde huffed and dusted his cloak. The trip to Ame would be a rather long one, indeed.

-;-

"Deidara of Iwagakure," A stern voice said, it was coming from a man with spiky hair and a shadow outline. He seemed to have instilled silence to the group of mass-murderers in the room, who were snickering back then, commenting about his so called _looks_.

"The leader's a shadow, yeah?" Deidara snorted disrespectfully, the fuchsia eyed member, Hidan, hid in a snicker and was nudged by Kakuzu, Kisame hid his laugh with a cough while the others tried their best not to get killed in the upcoming war against the leader's looks and Deidara's stupid comment.

The leader coughed, eyeing Hidan for a while before looking at Deidara. His mouth curved into a small smile, then into a half smile-half-smirk. His ringed eyes rested on Deidara who shifted from feet. "You're an interesting one, are you not?" The leader told him, Deidara perked up slightly, not sure whether to nod, to shake his head or just stay still. He did the third thing.

"One with the Jashin damned stupid membership shit!" Hidan yelled from the back as he was violently stabbed by one of Kakuzu's kunai. "Shut the fuck up, damn masochist!" Kakuzu yelled at him, this made Pein flinch slightly.

"Would you two shut the hell up—This is a serious thing," He told them sternly before facing Deidara once more.

He snapped his fingers and then a masked boy carrying a black coat with red clouds imprinted on them came, folded on top of his arms, along with _spats_, and _nail polish._ "I understand wearing the socks and the coat, yeah, but nail polish!? You've got to be kidding me, yeah." Deidara sneered, glaring at the said item.

"Do as you wish, but the painted nails are necessary, please do not ask why, they just are. You will be wearing this coat, put it on however you want, on missions, you will continue to wear it at any costs. No matter what. The hat is one of the uniforms as well, but it isn't necessary to keep wearing it _inside_ the organization, also, here's your ring." Pein had already taken the ring from the masked boy and handed it to Deidara, "You will put that on, if it is lost, it is your obligation to look for it. Please put it in your right index finger."

Deidara nodded, Akatsuki was pretty strict with all this fashion things.

"From now on, you will take on the position of _Sei_." Pein told him, as Tobi handed the set of clothes to Deidara. The blonde nodded and took it from him, a bit weirded out to why he wore a mask.

Silence fell amongst all of them. And Deidara looked at the Leader who smiled at him—smugly—"Now that that's done with," He took a pause.

"Welcome to the Akatsuki, Deidara."

-;-

Next Chapter: Whoot! Deidara's finally in Akatsuki! And does Naruto share a friendship that's more than whats needed with Gaara? And oh, oh, water boils when Deidara finds out he'll be partnered up with Sasori! Stay tuned for the next chapter!

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Spicy... Naruto and Gaara? Hmm... I hope you guys enjoyed this. I sure found this one interesting! Thanks for reading, yeah. And--Reviews will be loved.


	6. Bonds

Thanks for the reviews. They encourage me to update faster. Oh yes, one note that doesn't concern this story, I know and see that some readers here have read my past story, entitled, 'Deadly Silence', remember that? Well, I won't be updating it anytime soon. Hiatus on that for a while.

Warning: Slight OOC. Slight. Slight. SLIGHT!

Disclaimer: I can't even rent Naruto! Now own it? Ha. What are the chances?

Special Note, Special Note: I was sick last week and a bit busy. Sorry for the one-chapter update ever week. Enjoy this one! (Its kinda long and I'm proud of myself!)

-;-

Chapter 6

"Bonds"

"In order to escape the path of loneliness, I have no choice but to work hard and make my own path. If I do that, then someday…someday I can be like him." The words escape Gaara's mouth as he looked at the sunset that was soon to disappear in the fray of sand, he felt peaceful. And rested, he also felt determination and happiness, for once. He spared a glance towards his elder brother, Kankurou, before turning towards the sunset once more. The sunset could entrance anyone, anyone, even the great demon—no, the great shinobi of the sand, Gaara.

Gaara was never a demon, that title was not even fit for him. He always believed that he was, and always will be a mass weapon of destruction for his village, Suna, but that soon changed when he came to meet and actually duke it out with Konoha's very own _demon_, Uzumaki Naruto.

Since then, Gaara has learned that solitude is not the greatest thing. He learned to regard other's presence, his siblings, his fellow shinobi, the villagers, everyone. Naruto, most of all. "That's why as a shinobi of the sand, I will aim to be Kazekage, so that I can live a life connected to my, our, village." Gaara added slowly, his eyes closing for a while to think of the hyper active blond.

"I want to work hard so that others will accept my existence. That's what I thought when I looked at Uzumaki Naruto. Up until now, my bonds with others have only been once of hatred and murder. But seeing him fight so hard made me wonder what a bond really is. I think I understand a little now. … Suffering, sadness, and joy… to be able o share it with others…"

"Gaara—" Kankurou said, not even stopping himself from smiling.

"Uzumaki Naruto… When I fought him, I feel that is what he taught me. He experienced the same suffering as I. And he taught me how to change the life that I have. That's why someday, I want my existence will become necessary to everyone, not as a weapon to be feared, but as the Hidden Village of Sand's Kazekage." He turned around to look at Kankurou, the sunshine making its way to guide his path once more, he looked so triumphant, so victorious, he looked as if he was pure eternity when the sun's light reflected his own, someday, Gaara would shine, shine brightly than any sun. He would become the Kazekage.

Yes, he understands now. He understood that in order to have bonds, you must learn to make them. And he learned, he learned first hand that fighting with another Jinchuuriki hurt like hell, on both of their behalves, he also learned that spreading yourself towards others, expressing yourself, wasn't that bad. He learned to care, to love, he learned all those just because of a fellow shinobi, a fellow Jinchuuriki, but most of all, a friend, he learned it from Uzumaki Naruto.

And that understanding was a few years ago, a year and 10 months, precisely. From that year, he had obtained his ultimate goal; he had become the Sand's Kazekage. And he wasn't one to wait for Leaf's guests, but he felt obliged to do it, whoever they might be, he was going to welcome them respectfully as honored guests.

"Gaara! Gaara!" A female voice called out as spiky blonde-curly-hair with a beautiful face popped inside Gaara's room, the redhead was never startled, thus, the inclination of his head to the right to greet his sister. "Temari…" He said slowly, as Temari slid into the room, a smile on her face.

"Well, you ready for the ceremony?" Temari asked, taking a seat at the edge of the bed, Gaara got up and nodded slowly. "Do you want me to help you prepare, Gaara?" She asked again. Wow, like a total, worried, supportive, and all-around sister. You couldn't ask for anything more, Temari was the _perfect_, sister, albeit the fact she was spunky. Spunky all around, too.

"Thank you." Gaara said, his eyes blinked, thus, indicating the dark ringed outline. Due to lack of sleep, at least. Temari beamed, and instantly, yet rather reluctantly, guided Gaara to the other room. The teen, soon to be, well, officially proclaimed as Kazekage, was wearing his normal clothes—Black shirt and black pants. He looked around at the superbly lighted room, seeing a table, chairs, sofas (Couches), a lamp, the Kazekage robe laid gracefully on the chair, the ever so social hat, shoes, and then a mirror. The mirror was of course Temari's touch.

"This is going to be great--!" Temari said, smiling as she handed Gaara the robe, it seems like Temari was the one getting absolutely excited about the ceremony, Gaara, if he was more expressive, would've been jumping up and down already. "Excuse me…" He said, facing Temari with a calm expression, the intensity and probably anger in his eyes no more, alls that left was gratitude.

"Oh! Right, right! Big sister will be outside waiting!" Temari said, grinning as she put her hands in front of her and instantly excited the room. Seriously, how old did she think Gaara was? He was old enough, at least. Old enough to receive the title—ok, maybe not so, but he was skilled, and he was barely 15…

Slowly sliding the door open, he looked at the patient figure of Temari, leaning on the wall. The hat in hand, he gave her an assuring look as she skipped inside, Temari was totally going all-out for her little brother. Standing in front of the mirror, he gave her the hat, she beamed once more and grinned. She put the hat on his head, and then peered over his shoulder to see his dazzling reflection. "You look great, Gaara! You're going to become one kick-ass Kazekage!" And then the spunky Temari was back. From the reflection, Gaara gave a slight smile, Temari merely returned this with her own, full hearted one.

Not even thinking about the consequences, Gaara was still not Kazekage, well, officially, at least, she wrapped her arms around him, and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Go kick butt, _otouto_." Temari said, Gaara relaxed and allowed his older sister to do such a kind gesture, to hug him. Through the years, he'd grown completely attached, and close, to the village, villagers, to his siblings, most of all.

Temari has proven to be, not only a spunky Kunoichi, but also a very "motherly-like" figure, along with a thoughtful one. Kankurou was the supportive brother, the two were both supportive. He was also the one who looked out for Gaara, like Temari.

Slowly unwrapping her hold on Gaara, she dusted the bottom of his cloak and fixed his hat, like a child being tended for by his mother. "You look great, Gaara!" She repeated, as Gaara gave off another smile once more.

And then a knock was heard, Temari instantly nodded, "Come in." The door slid, and a familiar face went inside, clad in an all black ensemble. "You ready Gaara?" The man with his face painted said as he let out a grin. He looked at Temari, "Quit worrying about him. He can handle himself—and don't tell me you dressed him, Temari…" He groaned, scratching the back of his head as Temari stuck her tongue out at him. "I am the elder sister." She said primly, arms crossed behind her back. "At least I worry, Kankurou!"

"I worry about Gaara. But I'm not treating him as a child. You should've learned by now that Gaara's old already." The older teen said, yet, Temari was older, he smiled at Temari and then turned to Gaara who just looked at both of them. Like always.

"Hey, I am not treating our baby brother like a baby!"

"You even called him 'baby brother'."

"That's because he _is_!"

"Come on—Don't tell me you went cheesy and—" Kankurou felt a very sharp nudge at the direction of his gut as he let out a small yelp and grinned. "Kidding, kidding. Gaara is, and will always be, the baby of us siblings, right?"

Temari grinned and nodded eagerly as she stepped towards Gaara, one hand on his shoulder whilst the other on his waist, Kankurou stood on the other side, putting a hand on his shoulder all the same, they really were one happy family. "For the Sand, and for our new Kazekage, our baby brother!" the Kunoichi squealed, as she tilted her head slightly, almost leaning against Gaara's.

Gaara smiled. His sister, his brother, they were both behind him, they were supportive. And most of all, they were really his family. Looking towards the balcony, he saw the whole village of Suna, along with the large crowd. The loud crowd, which cheered for him, his siblings stood behind him, also overlooking everyone.

A man clad in a Suna-outfit stepped forward and looked at everyone, the villagers particularly. "And now, for our Godaime Kazekage!" He said curtly, turning to look at Gaara with a pleased smile. "Sabaku no Gaara!" The crowd cheered, they have indeed turned to like Gaara and along with the terms like, appreciated and loved him, not because he was to be feared, but because he was an ever so true and ever so blissful man of the Sand.

Temari smiled, as the wind blew hard, lightly swaying her hair. Kankurou grinned also, a hand in the air. Gaara took his hat off and put it up, making the strands sway along with the wind. With that act, everyone knelt down solemnly to bow down to their newest leader. To the ultimate ninja of the Sand.

Temari and Kankurou did the same.

-;-

"Look, look, we're running late!" Cried a blond as he and the other two members of the team dashed through the entrance of the gate only to be greeted by one of the guards saying, "Lead's emissaries?" He said, catching up to them. He received a: "Hurry the hell up! Were missing Gaara's ceremony!" so that must mean a yes.

"Please follow me," The Jounin said as he entered a corner.

"We're running late!" Naruto whined once more as Sakura increased her speed to run beside him. "At least we're running, you egghead!" He let out an uneasy chuckle as they hurried their speed. They could already hear cheers and yells like, "Hooray for the Kazekage!" and "Gaara-sama!" also, "Long live, Godaime-sama!"

Kakashi then stopped as they reached the end of the crowd, Sakura taking in all the noise before a hushed silence fell. The crowd had knelt down and bowed, ANBU had already flocked the rooftops, kneeling down as well along with those spiffy council members.

Kakashi gave Naruto and Sakura the look that said, 'Lets go in'. And that's what exactly what they did. Of course, if they weren't shinobi, then they would've just stayed all the way behind, but they were, so they did what master (For Kakashi, at least) shinobi do : They jumped up to the nearest rooftop, evading the ANBU who seemed to have full respect of their new Kazekage, and as gracefully as they jumped, they landed in front of the crowd, kneeling down for respect and acknowledgement also.

Naruto peeked above his head to see the messy red hair that stuck out, and the white and blue hat along with the symbol of the Wind (Kaze) swaying through the rhythm of the wind. The blond smiled, and instantly felt good for Gaara, he got the acknowledgement he'd wanted. And Uzumaki Naruto, he himself, was here to witness such a grand thing.

Gaara, a shinobi, his friend—no, his best friend, was the Kazekage. Boy was Naruto behind! He'd be making up if he wanted to be sixth Hokage, and that, everybody, was soon to come.

-;-

As the roars of joy and cheers of enjoyment seized for a solemn moment, Gaara himself felt something stirring inside him—no, it couldn't be the demon—it was a feeling of pure gratitude and thankfulness. Putting the hat down to his side, he walked, slowly as always, towards the rails of the balcony (stage-like) and looked down at all the people. The first thing his eyes managed to instantly recognize was the spiky gray hair, he tilted his head, if there's gray hair, there's bound to be a following pink, and raven black. Sure enough, there was the pink bundle of hair, but no raven black (Thank the gods, Gaara himself wasn't all that fond of the younger Uchiha.) Instead, he saw familiar messy blonde hair, deep blue eyes looked up to lock gazes with his aqua-blue ones.

He stopped to look. It was Naruto. All Gaara knew was that the boy(somewhat) was out to train with the Great and Legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin. But now here he is, kneeling down, his gaze locked with his own, and smiling—did Gaara see right? Naruto could be asking himself the very same question because Gaara himself could feel a tiny smile creeping up his stoic face.

The council member from before stepped up and looked down to the people, raising both his arms towards the skies, he did a final bow towards Gaara's direction, "The Godaime Kazekage, Gaara." And with that, everyone stood up and started cheering once more. Temari managed to slip beside Gaara, making sure, and also holding back her "motherly" or more like "over-protective" sister attitude, she was of course, an honorable Jounin, one of the finest of the Sand, so she had to keep her composure—well, in public anyway.

She stood beside Gaara as Kankurou stood on the other side, one hand on Gaara's shoulder. He blinked his eyes once and then, with a confused look, the painted-man peered down the railings and looked at the group of Konoha shinobi. "Isn't that Uzumaki and his team?" He murmured lowly, Temari stepped forward casually, taking a closer look. "And Hatake-san; along with his two other students. You're right…"

Gaara inclined his head once more, he held the Kazekage hat on his hand still as he walked away, he would want to take some time to breathe for a while. Temari and Kankurou got this and nodded, they also got the silent message that Gaara would want the Konoha shinobi to be treated well like honored guest (he promised himself, swore, that is, to treat any of the shinobi coming from Konoha with much respect, like hell, he'd had promised himself something more if he knew it was Naruto and his team.)

Temari got down, the ninja way; she jumped down the railings and landed—gracefully—in front of the trio and then spoke, "So you're the team Konoha has sent?" she asked, looking over them. Naruto nodded eagerly as Kakashi raised his hand to say, "Yo."

"Temari-san," Sakura greeted, smiling as she bowed down to her fellow Kunoichi. Temari nodded. "Thank you for coming." As the Sand's ambassador, Temari has learned to act all political and formal in ways more than one. "Gaara has asked for your presence," She said diplomatically, concealing a smile.

"Oi, oi, Temari-chan!" A hyper-active voice called out as Naruto jogged towards her. "Since when was Gaara inducted as Kazekage?" He asked, looking at her. Temari looked at him dumb founded for a while, "Just now."

"No, no, I mean—when did they decide to make him Kage?"

"Not too long ago. You're the annoying brat from before—you've grown."

"Yeah well, thanks--And _brat?!_"

Temari hid a chuckle as she escorted them in the main building. "Uzumaki Naruto, right?" Naruto nodded eagerly. "Gaara's been anxious of your return, though he never mentions a word about it, he does mention you and what you've done to him a lot."

Naruto's eyes practically sparkled. "Oh yeah—Gaara!" the blonde grinned, too excited he missed to see a large pot, he literally bumped into it, the pot, being made out of—clay?—shattered, it didn't actually have anything in it, it was mostly decoration. Naruto received a rough punch, as Sakura pulled him by the collar. "Look—We just arrived and you managed to break _that_ pot! How clumsy could you get?!" Naruto merely chuckled. "Geez, Naruto, you haven't grown at all!" With a growl, she threw him towards another vase on the either side, smashing it still.

Kakashi merely smiled, his eyes turning into slits. So his students were still _kawaii_ (cute) after all. As much as he'd wanted to break the fight, he couldn't because the vase started reforming back into its original form. "What's happening?" Naruto said, pointing at the—clay?—no, it was sand! The sand was starting to form back, and the vases were back in shape like they never got shattered.

Temari looked at the expected person, and true enough it was Gaara. She smiled, "Gaara? I thought you were resting?" Questioning him, her own shade of blue colored eyes met his—but it wasn't cold, his eyes weren't _always_ cold, and Temari got the good side, her eyes were met with calm aqua ones. He tilted his head at the three Konoha shinobi (To Gaara, it would be just as good as bowing down low.)

He looked at Naruto for a while. "Gaara-sama, we're honored to be here." Kakashi interrupted, not forgetting to add the proper honorific. Gaara nodded once and then turned to regard Naruto of his presence. One thing ran through his mind: 'Why was this blond idiot here in front of him now?' "Oi, Gaara!" Naruto called out, not bothering to call him by the true honorific, he waved a hand in front of Gaara's dazed face—yet impassive—and peered over his shoulder to see Kankurou smiling—not grinning—smiling. Something must be up with hell right now.

"Ah, Gaara-sama, Naruto just got back from training with Jiraiya-sama and we were given orders to be the emissaries for your ceremony." Kakashi interrupted, his visible eye smiling nonchalantly. Gaara gave this a nod and then without another word said, led them to the main room.

The redhead sitting behind a large desk, his eyes looming over the room. None of the people in the room actually spoke. Naruto just stood there in front of Gaara, grinning ever so slightly as the redhead himself surveyed each and every one of them. "Thank you." The first phrase that has escaped someone's mouth was that. That of sole gratitude and happiness, yet his voice didn't sound all that happy (Gaara's voice seldom sounded happy unless faced with sadistic intent.). Naruto paused for a while and his grin fell into a surprised one, his mouth agape, he took time to register what words has escaped Gaara's mouth. Naruto never doubted that Gaara was an all around good person, but he never thought Gaara would be _this_ good and saying thanks in front of such a crowd as well.

"…Huh?"

He received a rough punch behind his head as Sakura hauled him back up and practically threw him off balance again. "Gaara-san said thanks!" Sakura whispered in a hissed tone, practically breathing fire.

Naruto took another moment to register that and paused. Chuckling nervously, he scratched the back of his neck as he looked at Gaara once more, the redhead didn't look like he'd be expecting an answer, but knowing Gaara (And Naruto knew him like hell.)… Gaara would very much love an answer, even though he rarely makes that noticeable.

Feeling another nudge in the location of his ribs, Naruto winced and tried to grin, instead a grimace came. "…No problem…?"

Gaara inclined his head towards Naruto's direction—left—and then nodded slowly. He looked at his siblings where Temari stood in front of the door and Kankurou who sat at one of the couches. The two got this as a hint and then with a small smile coming from Temari, she pulled on Kankurou's sleeve and tugged him upwards.

"Hatake-san, you and your team might be tired. We'll escort you to your rooms."

Kakashi nodded as he looked up from his book. Sakura smiled half-heartedly, "Thank you, Temari-san."

"Eh, Uzumaki, stay here and keep Gaara company for while we're gone," Kankurou knew that Gaara had been meaning to thank Naruto personally, along with wanting to speak to him, too. Also, he had a few unsolved business with the blonde Jinchuuriki.

Naruto just nodded, not wanting to offend the Suna shinobi.

"…Don't do anything stupid, Naruto…" Sakura whispered again as she pulled him closer to her, obviously emphasizing that if he did something very stupid which would be the cause of a war, Suna versus Konoha, then she herself would kick Naruto's butt herself to end the said war.

And with a nonchalant wave from Kakashi, along with the usual respective bow, they left.

-;-

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Gaara started, looking up from his desk once more as he made a crisscross pattern of his fingers. "Thank you." He said once more. These two words really didn't make sense for Naruto, not once had he ever heard Gaara say such things.

"We were more than happy to come here, heh heh." Naruto chuckled a bit, as Gaara took a start and stood up slowly. "For all this…" Gaara said quietly, looking out the window to see the large village he would now govern.

Naruto understood this and stood beside him silently, looking at the sunset along with Gaara.

"It was a sunset, remember, Gaara?" Naruto asked quietly, his voice trailed with softness and calmness as he turned to look at Gaara who seemed so glued on looking at the beautiful sunset that set between the vast lumps of sand.

"It was also a sunset when I admitted you weren't a failure…" Gaara murmured, putting a hand on the side of the wall as Naruto smiled half-heartedly. "So you're the Kazekage, huh?" His blonde counterpart commented as Gaara found himself starring at the deep blue eyes of Naruto.

"It's quite boring, Uzumaki."

"Isn't that what you always wanted, Gaara? Look at you now… You're… awesome…"

Gaara tilted his head, he wasn't one for conversations, but talking to Naruto about such things made him become a chatterbox…

"You're really not one to strike up a conversation, are you?"

He received a nod, which ended their talk for a while. They both remained silent and unmoving, staring at the sunset. The beautiful sunset which graced the village of the sand. Naruto looked at Gaara's peaceful face being lightened up by the different shades of orange and yellow, he felt a soft smile creep up his face.

Gaara in turn glanced over Naruto for a while, Naruto seemed like his twin already, they both shared the same and horrible childhood, they both aimed for the highest rank known to their village, and they both shared a friendship, a bond nothing or no one could ever break. He felt arms slowly wrapping themselves around his shoulders, the hands draping on his chest. The blond rested his chin on Gaara's shoulder, looking, with the same view and perspective, the sunset that brought back so many memories.

"You know, being Kazekage means being the strongest in the village… It also means you have to put your life on the line for your village… Something I know you'll do, Gaara." Naruto whispered softly as Gaara relaxed from Naruto's hold, only to sink into his embrace.

"Don't be concerned, Naruto… I won't die anytime soon."

"Don't worry, Gaara, I'll protect you even if it'll costs me my life…" He assured the redhead, tightening his grip around his shoulders as he tilted his head to lean on Gaara's. Gaara in turn put a hand on top of Naruto's, smiling ever so slightly. They looked peaceful. They looked… rested and calm. They looked majestic.

They shared a bond that could never be broken no matter what the situation is. The shared something more than friendship. They shared understanding and much _love_.

Over the years, Gaara has learned to love. And over the years, Naruto has learned to share his own love to Gaara.

-;-

"No, no, what?!" An uneasy voice said as he stubbornly crossed his hands. He looked around at the amused faces of the other members who tried their best to hold in their laughter. "Why him, yeah?! Can't I go solo?" He murmured desperately.

"Deidara. Sasori is to be your partner at all costs." A stern and manipulative voice ordered, annoyance trailing his tone. Deidara was the over-all child of the organization now. "You can't go solo because Akatsuki travels in two. Understood?" The pierced man added as the chuckles around the room lessened, the only audible one was Hidan's.

"Didn't you two solved this already? You resorted into calling Sasori-san, Sasori-_danna_." Kisame pointed out bluntly, grinning as Itachi merely glared and looked impassively at everyone. Hidan absolutely cracked already. He laughed like the masochistic sadist he really was and resorted into holding his stomach already. "Mother--fucker--! _Danna!_ This kid is simply amusing, Jashin dammit!"

Hidan received a painful stab in his side, where the kunai slid down and stooped near his liver, Deidara could see the blood gushing out of the cloak already as he grimaced. "Damn you, Kakuzu!" Even more shocked, he was stabbed near his liver and he still talked. Even cursed. What was this man?

Pein resisted the urge to roll his eyes, being the composed man that he was, and simply walked away from the babbling group of so called S-class criminals, also referred to as dangerous babbling monkeys.

Deidara huffed and blew on his thick bangs as he crossed his arms, someone threw the cloak at his face, asking him to wear it then and there. "What the hell, yeah?" He mumbled, uncrossing his arms as he pulled it down to glare at the victim—Sasori. "Put it on, brat."

Deidara rolled his visible eye and shrugged, "Not in front of you, danna, yeah." Apparently, he liked calling Sasori danna, out of irritation or just out of a simple bet and dare.

"You're Akatsuki. You're not surrounded by—" He cut his sentence short, looking at Hidan and then at the others. It was not good to finish that statement. "Just get dressed fast, brat." With another irritating huff, Deidara did as he was told and slid the cloak, his head first then pulled it down to see if it fits. It fit. Perfectly. Feeling around, it wasn't so bad. It could get hot if the weather was hot, but it was cool, Ame was cold. So the cloak was perfect.

"One more rule…" Pein's voice said, though his form couldn't be found anywhere. "It is permitted to kill your fellow Akatsuki. But I advice you not to."

Deidara grinned at this and looked maliciously at Sasori. "So were partners, huh, Sasori-danna, yeah?" Sasori sighed—a human trait he couldn't let go of—and merely walked away.

Next Chapter: Deidara's slowly getting used to life in Akatsuki. Naruto and the other teams are off to train! Sasori and Deidara actually get along for a while... for a while.

-;-

Special Note: And I can't update until Friday, it's our test this week. But I'll make up for it. It'll be a long chapter, I'll try. Good luck for me for the tests! See ya guys till then.

Review!


	7. Lazy Days

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Long update! So terribly sorry! I was so busy with stuff, school, etc! So I didn't find time to update. But now, I promise you people, you know who you are, that I'll be updating twice every week. Or once, if possible, twice, yeah. Enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Dammit!

SPECIAL NOTE: Thank you to : ArtIsABangXD. Lol. I mean, yeah. This chapter has Akatsuki in it and the next would be a Deidara and Sasori chapter, well, with a few twists.. like... Hidan and Kakuzu and stuff. Anyways! Next chapter! Within this week, it'd be up! So yep.

* * *

Chapter 7

"Lazy Days"

Wary blue eyes stare at the concrete ceiling. He could hear droplets of rain hitting the tower's roof from above. He didn't know why he could, since his room was practically found two stories below the actually rooftop. Aside from the droplets of rain, he could hear footsteps and murmurs. Some people were obviously in the higher floors.

Drawing in a sigh, the blue orbs saw a shadow lurking beside the door. The blond rocked his body slightly and shifted to the other side to get a better view of the person. Rolling his visible eye at who it was, he returned at his usual past time—starring at the ceiling.

Deidara put his hands behind his head, and used it as a pillow as he ignored the sadistic intent coming from the far side of the room. Surely, Deidara and his partner didn't get along that entire well, but he was still curious. How could someone as young as fourteen be in Akatsuki? His partner looked like a fourteen year old boy, not older than fifteen.

Sasori, on the other hand, didn't like their new base. True, Deidara had never been to their old base back at the River Country, but it was obvious that the redhead preferred to have headquarters there rather than to have it here in Ame.

One of the few troubles were his partner, Deidara was practically the most annoying and most childish ninja he had ever met in his entire life, and that would be quite long already. His other problem was that he had to share a room with him. The tower could've had hundreds of rooms but it had to put Sasori and Deidara in one room. It was big enough for both of them, but having to share it with the idiotic blond would be hell.

He didn't see the purpose of it, just because he has a new partner doesn't mean he has to sleep in the same room. Kisame and Itachi never did share a room, even now, they didn't. And the Suna-nin knew all that well that the room at the end of the corner was empty. The only threat there was that Tobi's room was on the other end of the hallway, as well.

Tobi certainly could not stand up to Sasori's impassiveness, along with his stupidity, but the supposed-to-be ninja was almost as annoying as Deidara. More, even.

Sasori really should talk to Pein about that empty room at the end of the hallway… He certainly did not want to spend his time in the room with the blond in the way. True, he never slept. He was, of course, a puppet. And puppets don't have any organs, lungs, whatever, they didn't. So he never was tired. Except the often chakra strain.

Leaning on the wall casually and sporting a blank looking face, he crossed his hands under his chin and looked at his dazed out partner. If Deidara wasn't going to talk to him in his time with the Akatsuki, then Sasori wouldn't. He wasn't one for talking, anyways.

"Sasori-danna, yeah…" Deidara started out, his gaze not leaving the ceiling. If Sasori wasn't the guy who could talk endlessly and could stay quiet for limitless days, then Deidara was the complete opposite. Sasori raised the slightest fraction of his eyebrow, just to regard Deidara that he was listening.

"Your art stunks, yeah." The blond mused, grinning as he sat up to look at the impassively blank redhead.

-;-

A bird swooped down low to the ground, just inches away from its target, before it collided with the unmoving and slightly scary target, it swooped back up to the air, flying in circles just above the so called target. The wind was enough to give Deidara a full blown makeover, literally, who knew Ame had such strong winds along with the rain?

Come to think of it, fighting in the rain, more so for him, was not at all spirit-lifting. His bird couldn't fly, it only seemed to flutter, and making a swoosh down low like that and then manoeuvring up was not easy, it was almost a miracle the rain didn't slow the clay bird—didn't slow it that bad.

The target, on the other hand, didn't know what came over him to agree to such a stupid thing such as being the target dummy for his idiot blonde partner. Deidara didn't know who or what he was, so getting hit by the bombs without dodging and ending up not scorched would be a hard thing to explain. So the best thing Sasori could do now was… to dodge.

Like say, he should dodge that incoming scorpion that's free falling from the sky, the rainy sky. Deidara wasn't that good, for him, he was an amateur. The kid didn't know a thing about the hardest of shinobi life, but it wasn't too late to teach him, Sasori was never the gentle teacher. So if he did—by some miracle actually teach Deidara or train him in any way, he would make sure the brat would day because of the training and not because of a stupid battle.

As the redheaded target looked (rather boredly, yeah) at the incoming clay scorpion that was amazingly not slowed down by the rain as well, Sasori took a step back, but that step was all it took for the _thing_ (Sasori would never go to such lengths as to admitting that those exploding abominations were art.)—to explode in midair. He might've thought Deidara was an airhead for choosing explosives as his primary weapon, but exploding just above the target? He was seriously mocking his superior already.

Sasori looked at the explosion atop his head boredly with lidded eyes, the smoke covered half of the grounds they were in, but it soon subsided due to the rain. Pein must've known—or must've cared less for his Akatsuki members—the rain slowed down slightly, but knowing Pein, he wouldn't do such a kind act like that. He'd rather see them suffer.

But really, Pein was something else sometimes… Mysterious, yes, and Deidara has actually never seen him in his true form, true, he talked, but it was more than an it rather than a he because a damn shadow was the one giving orders to him.

"Hey, Sasori-danna, yeah?" Deidara called out from atop as he surveyed the ground with his scope, nope, no short redhead around. Deidara felt a bit frightened—the least bit because down to the tiniest artery, the tiniest vein, he hated Sasori, he hated him for being an egotistical bastard, but what he feared was not the life of his partner, but his own life. Who knows what the Leader would do to him if he found out Sasori turned to ashes in a mock fight? Really, who knows?

Just as Deidara was about to jump for joy in the success of beating his so called danna in a fight (A mock fight, a _mock_ fight.) he got outwitted. Of course, Sasori was smarter, more experienced, stronger, just… Sasori was better than Deidara. In art, in everything. So in the end, the blonde was outsmarted by the genius.

True, Akatsuki were geniuses. They wouldn't be mass-murdering people if they weren't smart, were they? Even if some—some—of them seem pretty stupid, underneath that arrogance are… brains… In some cases, like Deidara for instance.

He may not be the sharpest kunai in the pouch, or the brightest bulb in the room, but he was a resourceful—or say the least—he was… a… an interesting being. The Iwa-nin wouldn't be here right 

now, getting mocked, like always, by Sasori who seemed totally unharmed by the explosion, if he wasn't a genius. He was, in his own little way, he was a genius.

As Deidara's bird hit a low drop to the ground which caused it to detonate, he looked at Sasori, his visible eyebrow raised as the Suna-nins hands were tucked dangerously inside his sleeves. Something was really up. "How'd you manage to survive that, yeah?" Deidara asked, fixing his hair, the explosion ruffled it slightly, it wasn't a grand explosion, but it exploded, none the les.

Sasori looked at him impassively, like always, and said dryly; "I'm an S-class missing nin."

Much enthusiasm there. Deidara shook his head, and placed a thoughtful hand on his chin, "I mean, how'd you mange to survive that without any burns or scorched marks, yeah?"

Sasori titled his head there, and his impassive face twitched into a seemingly amused one, he wore a tiny smile, a creepy one to add, and looked at his idiotic partner like he was stupid, more stupid. "I dodged it."

Deidara still didn't buy it. How could someone dodge an attack like that if it exploded just inches away from his head? "How could you have dodged it, yeah?" Their conversation was cut short when Sasori walked away. End of conversation.

Sasori would never go into details on how he managed to get out of that explosion without a single scratch what so ever. He would never let himself dig in deep of Deidara, he would only be his partner. And partner he was.

-;-

The sun sat on the Rocky Mountains just behind Amegakure as the rain continued to fall. The cold always soothed people, even the roughest of shinobi, but sometimes, this unending rain would drive some of the toughest shinobi insane—if they didn't know hot to adapt.

That is the way of Pein. Pein was god. God of Ame, and god of everything else. Soon, he would rule this world. And soon enough, all the other villages would be gone, eliminated, the world would be eradicated of everything except his own village and his Akatsuki.

Pein would someday, one day, and soon enough, rule. Just as everything will end, war will, as well. And everyone—now in a peaceful habitat with no enemy countries, enemy shinobi—would live a peaceful life. Though Akatsuki will still act as superiors over the one village left, there would be no more war.

But before all that, a war, one last war is needed. A war that would end all wars. He knew when he would do so, he knew the time when a war would be needed to obtain such dreams. He knew he had to start a war against the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's holder when all eight of the other Bijuu are caught. He would go to war with the Akatsuki and Ame behind him, he would mostly fight Konoha. Konoha and its allies.

But that war would probably rage some other time. Today, he had a minor problem, a problem in the name of Deidara. He knew the Iwa-nin was special. But he thought he lacked something. Maybe brute strength or speed? Or maybe even jutsu?

Thinking about the jutsu, Pein paused for a moment. Deidara had special jutsus. He could make explosive animals out of clay. Maybe the Iwa-nin wasn't that reproductive these days he's been in Akatsuki, but he knew with much training, Deidara would be one of the toughest (They were all tough) of Akatsuki. Also, maybe even one of the deadliest with those exploding bombs.

Speaking of Akatsuki, Pein has, under his control, or just in the organization, 9 of the strongest ninja of their home village. The deadliest, scariest, most importantly, the most special in their own way. They all had great techniques, great skills, and great minds to match, so a war against any country would be easy. They would win it hands down.

And Pein just knew, with these 9 greatly skilled ninja behind him, he would win the war. No matter what it takes, he would free the world of all the nuisance such as wars and other villages. He would make the world better—for himself, for the Akatsuki, and for his home village.

Pondering about such things made him wonder, if he did win the war and the Bijuu were all caught and he'd made his own jutsu on controlling them, what would happen then? His thoughts were disturbed when a woman—a kunoichi—went inside his office, as silent and as stealthy as ever.

She stood beside him, not speaking for a while before Pein turned to regard her by turned his chair around to see Konan. Raising a pierced eyebrow at her, she merely looked at him. "What's wrong?" When Konan came up to him silently, something must be up. That, or she's having her one of those days.

Her eyes looked at the half opened door for a while then back at him. So the problem wasn't with her, it was what was going on outside. "Akatsuki would be no more if you don't stop those idiots from killing each other." She spoke, so composed, yet her voice, even though full of composure, demanded attention, respect and it was probably an order already.

Since when did Pein take orders from Konan? Maybe he could squeeze in some times she did give him orders, but that was out of the question. If something was going on outside, then she could've handled it, as second in command, it would've been easy.

She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to react. "They didn't bother?" The ginger-haired man said, ever so calm as he put his hands together, intertwining the fingers in a criss-cross like pattern.

"Oh, they did." Sarcasm would be noted in Konan's voice. Now, Pein was having second thoughts if it really was her 'time' or 'day' today. She seemed… a bit temperamental. They listened to her. But after a few seconds or so, they started screaming again, and the only way Konan would make them shut up would be to kill them, and that wouldn't be good. So all she did was stalk away from the idiotic group and come to Pein.

Getting the message, Pein stood up to walk into the common room. The empty room of the tower where possible fighting would be held. As he took a step inside the said room, he almost got hit by a large _Katon_ jutsu, that size would've obviously came from Kakuzu.

Not minding all the jutsu that were thrown from either side of the room, the leader, Pein, walked to the center of the danger battle, whichever, and with a raise of one eyebrow, Kakuzu stopped mid-way on his seals for a large Lightning jutsu.

"Who the fuck are you?" Hidan snorted, pulling the rope tied to the end of his scythe as he slung the said weapon over his back. Kakuzu, who seemed to have used a _shunshin_ to get to where he was, elbowed him, and it sure hurt like hell because Hidan actually cursed him, like that wasn't new, and threatened to hit him in the crotch.

Sasori and Itachi who were merely watching in the sidelines looked at the man, recognizing him, along with Kisame who just entered the room. Deidara, on the other hand, looked at the ringed man like he was a circus clown. Tilting his head, he said, "Who are you, yeah?" With that, he felt himself 

get tugged by the none so gentle Sasori to his side. He could've sworn he heard the redhead hiss, but he wasn't sure. Hidan, on the other hand, was given a glare by the pierced man, that sure shot him up. "You shouldn't talk like that to your superior, Hidan-san." A female voice said from behind as Konan walked beside Pein, smiling casually at the group of stunen(for now) shinobi.

"If you all would want to tear each other to shreds, I have a mission for you." Pein said, just in time to catch Hidan's jaw drop.

"What!? You're the leader?! Jashin dammit!"

"Fucking masochist!" Kakuzu hissed in his ear as he elbowed him roughly once more.

Konan coughed ever so lightly and the ongoing fight stopped for a while. "I would want Deidara, Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu to go on a specific mission." Just as he silently said it, he slipped a scroll out of his sleeve, two scrolls in fact, and tossed it over to Sasori and Kakuzu who caught it just as well.

Sasori scanned it, as Kakuzu could've smirked under his mask. "Is this all, Leader-sama?" He said, slapping the scroll to Hidan who tried to peek from his side. Pein regarded him with a nod, and with that little gesture, he left the now silenced Akatsuki alone.

"Wait—we have to _what?! _This damn mission isn't right for a fucking Akatsuki!" Hidan retorted, waving the scroll in the air as Deidara merely snickered. His first official mission as Akatsuki. And it was with Hidan… and Kakuzu… of all the people.

Sasori was not happy about this as well. He not only had to listen to Deidara's whines, but Hidan's as well. At least there was Kakuzu, he could restrain the masochist by means of plunging a sharp blade to his heart, not like it would hurt him.

--

Next Chapter: What was the mission all about? And Sasori has to take care of Deidara for this stupid mission, really, Deidara blabbing was enough, but Hidan and Kakuzu arguing in the mission? The world just wanted to give him karma at this time. But really, Kakuzu could... be... of some sane company, but somethings up! Or is it just the whole situation and location of this mission?

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	8. The Cold

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Teehee! Update! Yey! I kinda thought that there "love" thing isn't progressing that well... hmmm... this is a yaoi fic, right? Right! So I'm gonna start with the hints, and no, I don't want this to be that corny. :D

DISCLAIMER: I do not own. Not one. And the last part (Though it was another pair), well, I got inspired after reading this story, it was a drabble. (It's in my faves.) And the mission thing was still inspired. (Still in my faves. Multi-chaptered fic, yeah.)

SPECIAL NOTE: Here's that Deidara and Sasori filled chapter! Enjoy! This is a dedication to ArtIsABandXD, because she/he wnats a cool chapter with Deidara and Sasori and other members so yep. Enjoy, love. :)

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**Chapter 8**

"The Cold"

"Well you can just stick that damn pansy art up your ass, fucker!" A pissed off Hidan yelled as he put his hand down, tempted to grab the scythe that was slung on his back and whip the damn idiot blonde, wait, whip? No, he'd use his rope for that. He'd cut off the freak's hands. Slash the mouths on them. Gauge the eye out. Rip his throat. Slash said throat. And then take his spleen and feed it to Jashin knows what kind of fish! (Kisame, really, but the Kiri-nin might find it offensive.)

The said blonde that was mentally tortured, gruesomely tortured by the horrifying masochist just stuck his tongue out. "Well! If you could keep your damn mouth shut for a damn minute, then maybe we wouldn't have _problems, yeah!_" He snapped back, and glared at him with his visible eye.

"What? You're blaming _me_ for our _problems_?!" Hidan growled, and had already taken a firm grip on the edge of his scythe. "If you haven't, and didn't do that fucking damn jutsu, or whatever shit you call that ugly _thing_ that emerges from _mud_, then maybe we wouldn't be in this damn fucking _problem!_" It was now quite obvious that Deidara and Hidan did not get along. Not all that well. And having these two in one mission would be… hell.

"Stick that damn pole up your ass, pinky, yeah!" Deidara had crossed the line when he called Hidan 'pinky.' And Hell really broke loose after that, broke loose even more, as Hidan slashed at him with his scythe, his body crouching as he smirked sadistically at Deidara. "Jashin-sama will have your fucking gay soul, pansy!"

Deidara glared. And Hidan glared. And the blonde took his own stance as he opened his palm, two small birds fell to the ground with a hallow thump and with a puff of smoke, the said two its fluttered to life. As the two ran for it, towards each other, and before they could make any good impact, they were both jerked backward, rather roughly.

Deidara fell back to the ground, sliding all the way to the back where his back, which hurt already because of another shinobi (Sasori was just 'fixing' his puppets and it accidentally shot a kunai at Deidara's direction, none the less, it was watered-down, so no poison.) His back hurt even more. Growling, he glared at Sasori who just stood there impassively, his hands laid out as the visible blue lines appeared, tracing his fingers.

Hidan did not have such luck, Deidara probably had less, or Hidan had less, whichever, because Hidan actually felt a rib crack and felt one of his (probably useless) organ dislocate (Possible?). He looked at Kakuzu who shot his arm back in place, and with another fiery, fuchsia-eyed glare, Hidan got up and gave the taller man the finger.

"Would you two damn brats stop it—_NOW?!_" Kakuzu roared as he walked over to Deidara, and with his height and strength, he grabbed the blonde by the back of his collar, then he walked back to Hidan and did the same. He raised them both up, a smirk evident behind that white cloth that covered his mouth.

Hidan spat. And spat at Kakuzu he did. "Fuck off, Kakuzu."

"What's your problem, yeah?!" Deidara hissed, kicking—and scratching?—at Kakuzu but being the tall man that he is, he wasn't even fazed. The blonde's feeble attempts were…feeble.

He punched the two in the stomach, Deidara having the hard impact because he wasn't immortal, that fact made Sasori smirk slightly, as his partner flew back to the cracked tree for the second time within 5 minutes. Hidan was jabbed, punched, and of course, stabbed as Kakuzu threw him even harder than Deidara, Hidan managed to break three trees in the process as his back collided with a very, very, really, big rock that formed a seemingly small crack in the middle.

If Hidan weren't immortal, then maybe surviving that would've been pretty hard. But he was immortal and he still felt the pain like the damn masochist he is.

Not a moment too soon before he could react, he felt Kakuzu's _hand_ shoot out once more, as tentacles grabbed Hidan by the neck, Deidara wondered how one could do such a thing, but then he looked at his hands and stopped doubting. But he still wonders on how Hidan could survive such heavy… attacks--? —By Kakuzu.

Hidan got pulled closer, he was short, and Kakuzu was tall, taller than most of the Akatsuki, and he pulled Hidan up to face him, and glare at him directly in the eye. The tentacles wrapped itself around the pale-haired nuke-nin's neck, digging in deep as Hidan smirked.

Kakuzu remained silent, but his glare was intensifying. "Fuck you, Kakuzu. Put me down." Hidan said, breathing in as his hand, which still gripped the rope of the scythe, surprisingly, he hadn't let go of it, clutched it tighter then tugged on it.

The tentacles not only wrapped itself around his neck, but some new ones dug into his body, stinging, making Hidan wince in pain as he let go of his most treasured weapon. But that smug, that fucking smug smirk still remained. "Bondage?" Deidara would never, not even once, think Hidan is smart.

Kakuzu glared. And his glare could've burned because Hidan raised his free hand up in defense. And the slaughter of Hidan went on. Making Deidara wonder what Hidan—and Kakuzu—really was, along with his own partner.

-;-

"Hey, Sasori-danna, yeah." When Deidara starts with that sentence, it could only mean he would tease Sasori's art, or he was serious enough to respect the redhead, or he was curious and wanted an answer to his inevitable question. (Inevitably annoying question.)

Turning his head at his blonde partner, Sasori put the needle down as he spread his legs apart, and propped his elbow on his knee, he dropped a few needles in the process, but if he had to, he would throw them all (hundreds of poisoned needles…) at Deidara. With no hassle. With much ease.

He raised a fraction of his eyebrow and that was enough for Deidara to continue. "What are Hidan and Kakuzu, yeah?" And threw the needle he will, because if he answered that question, he would be giving something important away like trash.

If Deidara wanted answers, then he had to earn Sasori's trust. Even if it meant otherwise. And really, if Sasori wants to know _something deep_ about Deidara, he would earn that so called _trust_ from him and vice versa.

"You'd have to find that out for yourself, Deidara." Sasori said dryly as he turned to his needle once more, and then picked up the fallen ones.

Deidara grinned and the grin almost blinded Sasori. "Thanks, danna, yeah!" The blonde beamed; maybe he had a few of Sasori's trust, seeing as the redhead had started calling him by his first name already.

"We're almost at our destination, brat, try not to get lost." Sasori said, Deidara's grin didn't falter as he stood up and jogged in to the forest. They were so close to their destination. And Deidara was so close to answers already.

-;-

Deidara huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, why did the Leader give them such a mission? His first mission and he was failing. He fought with the one element he wasn't ready to face, he fought with ice. He fought with the coldness the wind brought in. And he fought with waist-high snow. Collecting weaponry and some payment was not a very good idea in a place like this. Kumo was cold. Really, really cold.

Deidara wondered why Sasori wasn't shivering. Why his teeth wasn't chattering. He didn't flinch. Kakuzu just gave mild annoyance to the cold as Hidan cussed and cursed and hated the cold white _dirt._

Everything Sasori wasn't doing, Deidara was. His teeth chattered and he could barely keep them together, he bit his bottom lip shut, stopping the said teeth from chattering as his arms started to shiver. Oh, the cold was not a good thing for a shinobi that wore an annoyingly black and some tints of red cloak.

They could've bought a jacket! Deidara wasn't expecting it to snow like hell before Winter. It was like what? Autumn. But the leader has said; 'Where the cloak always.' A jacket couldn't have hurt. And man was that Leader smug for tricking him into brining absolutely nothing—clothes—aside from the ones on his back—Deidara grumbled, which ended up to be a squeak because of the cold.

His hair was practically _freezing_ and standing on ends like a _Popsicle_, along with his whole body. He stopped for a moment, rubbing his hands; good thing the cloak had sleeves. He would've died already.

He breathed, and glared at the visible air in front of him. Hidan snickered on at Deidara, "Ha, you're going to die here in the cold before this fucking mission's over with, huh, pansy?" Deidara mustered the urge to shake his head as roughly as he could and his teeth chattered once more.

"D-Damn you, H-h-Hidan. I-I'm not g-go-gonna d-die…" Deidara said in between chatters.

"You're just going to freeze, brat. Now get going or you'll die _frozen._" Sasori said dryly, not bothering to spare his partner a glance as he walked on ahead, Kakuzu, tall as he was, could've mocked the height of the snow. Hidan on the other hand, other than cussing and cursing, was practically tripped and falling face-first towards the snow and then sinking. Often times it happened.

If Deidara weren't so cold, he would've been laughing already because Sasori plus waist-high snow is a funny thing to see. Hell, _he _was taller than the redhead, thus the title, 'Superiority Of A Midget, Redhead Bastard'.

Deidara clasp his hands together, rubbing them to keep warm.

"Kakuzu, can't you fucking do anything?" Hidan snorted, pulling a leg up as he leaped through the snow only to sink. Kakuzu could've grinned there, if the movement was visible enough as Hidan had that eerie feeling he just gave Kakuzu an idea to sadistically torture him.

-;-

Deidara could only grasp the moment within a second because he ducked, and by ducking, he sunk deeper into the snow, his arms on top of his head as he let out a yelp, which was barely audible because suddenly, the wind just blew and the coldness went on.

He looked up just in time to see a large stream of a fireball jutsu, going towards their direction, to Hidan's, unfortunately, Deidara was beside Hidan and he could've gotten burnt if he didn't bother ducking.

Sasori put his fingers on his temples and sighed irritably, a foreign action done by the puppeteer seeing as he doesn't breathe. As the fire ceased, steam erupted from the jutsu. But it had a good effect. Kakuzu's large _katon _melted the snow, making an easy, snow-less path for them.

But with the heavy snowflakes falling, it won't be long until the ground gets covered _again._

Deidara shot back up as he regained his balance; Hidan had slung the scythe off his back as he glared at Kakuzu. It was like a repeat of episode 1 from earlier when Hidan gets jabbed _again_.

Putting his hand down, Sasori went on ahead. If they were so resourceful, then maybe they can get some sleep for tonight. But as known, Akatsuki rarely sleeps on missions. They don't. But that doesn't mean Deidara doesn't. In fact, its his fault on why they had stopped to rest. Deidara would've frozen from the cold already if they didn't.

But Sasori thoroughly argued that if the blonde sleeps, then chances are, he wouldn't wake up because of the cold. But no, Deidara was very sleepy. And if he wouldn't or if he slept too deep, one of his art would explode beside him and wake him up in a jiffy. Just to assure Sasori that he will be fine.

-;-

Now the only problem was where they would 'camp' out, surely Kakuzu wouldn't sleep, Sasori wouldn't even blink. Hidan and Deidara were probably the liability on this mission, seeing as Deidara was the newest, and Hidan was the second newest.

So basically, the two were the liability for this mission, if Hidan froze, he'd still be alive, but the masochist needed sleep, like everyone, and Deidara can't just keep on popping soldier pills. It'll sooner or later drive him insane, it will, and it wasn't very good for unstable shinobi like him.

Deidara kept rubbing his arms, and for the hundredth time, he thanked Kami that he the Akatsuki cloak had sleeves. Heaving in a sigh, Deidara shivered from the cold and was on the brink of breaking into pieces, literally.

"Can't we find shelter for the night, yeah?" He suggested, looking back and fourth at the two seniors, and not bothering to look at Hidan. Akatsuki do not sleep. Akatsuki do not rest on mission. And Akatsuki certainly do not freeze. But Deidara was a shinobi that makes exemptions. So with him, his Akatsuki partner will rest, the others will follow, and not only will he freeze, but he'll bring them along with him in his cold hell.

"No, brat. We must keep moving." Sasori deadpanned as he looked boredly at Deidara. That same face that seemed to scare himself and others out of their wits.

"But, danna, yeah!" Deidara started to whine. Since when did Shinobi—Akatsuki shinobi, whine? Deidara stopped in his tracks and mumbled something under his breath. "Ok, fine, yeah." He huffed, crossing his arms.

Hidan smirked and then sniggered. Sasori shot a glare towards Hidan then looked back at Sasori, who seemed to have stopped in his tracks. "I saw a cave down below," Sasori said idly, in a monotone as his eyes trailed off from Hidan then to the said direction.

Deidara grinned sheepishly as he rubbed his hands together once more and nodded.

Kakuzu didn't quite get the point, he wanted the money, he wanted _his_ money now, and he wouldn't want to rest. It'll only hinder them.

Sasori seemed to have disappeared from view as they rounded an unsteady corner. Deidara blinked and with just one step, he fell down the steep cliff-like thing made out of snow. He went down, sliding down, that is, and as he was abruptly put into a stop when he felt someone's shoe against his cheek.

Grumbling something in reply, he pushed said shoe out of his face, but the owner of such said shoe had stepped back, probably because the concrete Deidara was laying at wasn't so concrete. Deidara wasn't all that heavy for a shinobi. No, he wasn't. But the impact on his fall made the concrete, seemingly concrete, crack and break.

He fell instantly down to the cold waters as Hidan and Kakuzu took a leap, only to land on top of the water. They were ninja, and as ninja, they learned how to control their chakra and put it on their feet. Too bad Deidara didn't have that much time to do so for he had already fallen in the dark and cold water (of no return. Joke, joke.)

He felt himself get hoisted up by Kakuzu as the older man picked him up by his soaked collar to the safety of Sasori's side. He fell down with another hallow thump as his teeth chattered uncontrollably, his face was drained of all the color possible and his (sparkling) blue eyes seemed dazed and wary. His whole body shivered and it wasn't a good thing.

Deidara had just fallen in very cold water. And he had nothing else to wear. Feeling himself get dragged by the redhead, like a sack of sand or rocks, he was put into the dark shelter of the cave where he immediately took of his wet cloak. "T-t-t-thank _you_, danna, _yeah_." Deidara said, as he threw his cloak to the other side, hitting Sasori Square in the face.

He blamed Sasori for his fall. And he blamed Hidan for this mission. If the ancient-nin could've just kept quite along with his partner, they wouldn't have to be battling the damn elements. Or just two of the most annoying elements, the wind and the cold.

"Kakuzu," Sasori said coldly, as cold as the area around them, the taller man crouched low to get inside the cave and had lighted up a small fire for them. Sasori had taken the liberty to sit with Deidara, if Deidara would die, then at least he'll be there to (sadistically) hear the blondes last breath.

"Sleep." The ex-Suna-nin said, in a commanding tone as he spared Deidara a stoic glance. The blonde just shook his head.

"C-C-C-Can't, danna, yeah." Deidara said curtly as he threw all the sense he held and scooted closer towards Sasori, as he expected the redhead would do; the said redhead didn't do it. He didn't push Deidara away. He didn't threaten the blonde to anything. He just left him there.

Deidara snickered rather happily as he slumped towards Sasori, his shoulder leaning against the shorter ninja as he rubbed his arms together once more. He closed his eyes and then yawned, before huffing.

"Heh. Fucker." Hidan said, smiling rather smugly as he picked his scythe up and got out of the cave. "Where the hell are you going, bastard?" Kakuzu sneered, standing up also as they got out of the cave.

"It's been a fucking while for my next ritual."

"We'll scout the area," The green-eyed ninja alerted the other two inside the cave.

"Try not to die until we get back, asshole."

-;-

Deidara slowly closed his eyes, but then snapped them open once more. He wouldn't sleep, really, but Sasori asked him to. And to think he was the one who kept whining earlier before that he wanted to rest.

Sasori shrugged and practically nudged the blonde slightly as Deidara grinned. He leaned closer towards the fire. "Sleep, brat." Sasori deadpanned once more as Deidara shook his head. "You might kill me, yeah."

"I'll put up a mock burial. Don't worry." Sasori said smugly.

"I'll haunt you, yeah"

"I'll kill you again."

"I'll bring you with me, yeah."

"Brat."

"Damn midget."

"Sleep."

"Like I said, danna, you might kill me."

"Mock burial."

"Ok, then, yeah."

-;-

Morning soon came, and Deidara was found under the crook of Sasori's arm. His head resting on the redhead's shoulder as a dry cloth was wrapped around Deidara. That warm cloth was actually Sasori's. And he didn't know what got into him to do such an action. He really didn't know why he let Deidara get so close to him.

Sometimes, one doesn't need to know. And Sasori just wants to shrug it off and be that stoic bastard he really is.

-;-

Next Chapter: Deidara and Sasori... say what? Haha. They just got closer! And what happened to Hidan and Kakuzu? Where'r they? What happened to the scouting? Where exactly is their target? So many questions!

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Review! And I hope you enjoyed.


	9. Slick As Ice

Oh, god! It's been a while since I updated. Crap. Sorry. Been preoccupied. I honestly missed writing about Naruto. Haven't written any of those for a while now. It's all because of Twilight! I got addicted to it and... badda bing, badda boom. Enjoy this chapter. And don't ask about the title.

So anyways, I'm watching that hit counter! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own... gosh! Yes, I secretly own Naruto! Happy?! -cough- Deidara's mine. -cough- ...I wish. Yes, I do.

**--**

**Slick as Ice**

Deidara woke up with nothing much as a yawn as he rested his head on Sasori's chest. He had no idea what he was using as a pillow, he was just grateful that someone managed to put some fabric on him and warm him up for the night. Looking up now, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Danna?" Deidara said, stretching his arms. Sasori looked at him with a lidded gaze and shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I won't have to put a mock burial for you, brat." Sasori said, smirking slightly. Deidara huffed and pushed himself away from Sasori. He crossed his arms and then tilted his head. "What happened last night, yeah?" He didn't like knowing the details, he was just relieved that Sasori hadn't killed him and or taken advantage when he slept. Sasori could've rolled his eyes, but being the better man that he is, didn't.

"You fell asleep." Sasori said in a deadpan. Deidara nodded, arms still crossed and closed his eyes.

"Thanks for lending me your coat, yeah." Deidara murmured. Sasori brought his gaze down and then looked back up at Deidara, boredom written on his face.

"Did you enjoy your sleep," It was a mock question, and Deidara knew better not to answer it, but he still did. He groaned and then threw himself back on the ground where he landed with a low thud. He groaned again. It hurt his back; he preferred using Sasori as a pillow. The thought itself made him stay on the ground; Sasori didn't need to see that annoying coloring of his cheeks change.

Deidara didn't even know what he was feeling; instead, he just huffed once more and crossed his arms under his head, using them as a pillow.

"You know what, danna, yeah?" Deidara ground his teeth together, he shut his eyes tight, ignoring Sasori's bored expression. Hearing a low 'hn' from Sasori, Deidara prodded on to continue. "I hate you with a passion, yeah." He could feel Sasori's smirk even with his eyes closed. Sasori was getting on Deidara's nerves already. The blond merely curled up into a ball, ignoring the jibe he felt when a rock poked him somewhere in the rib. It didn't hurt him, it just irritated him.

Deidara didn't know just how sleepy he was, because when he woke up, the sky was less sunny and was darker. It was probably sunset—so Deidara had assumed—he rolled over. He realized he was still in his curled up position and frowned at that. But what he soon noticed was that the same coat was around him, used up as a blanket.

It was there and then that Deidara started hating Kumo. The place was too cold for him. He was an Iwa-nin, for crying out loud. Iwa-nins grew up in a harsh environment, in the middle of a rocky nothingness. He straightened up into a position after some time lying on the ground, he couldn't feel his annoying and arrogant partner anywhere. _What are the chances he got mounted by a bear?_ Deidara thought with a snort as a snicker passed his mouth. He held it in, and just sat there, still and unmoving for a while. Staring at the fire cackle in front of him. The cave wasn't too dark, the light from the sun—it was a bright orange, now—casting some light on their little make shift.

Unconsciously, he stuck his hands out, making sure they weren't too close from the fire, and then bowed his head. He missed the feeling of the warm sun and wanted the cold ice gone already.

"For a shinobi, you sure do sleep a lot." Deidara flinched at the voice. It wasn't someone he knew, though it sounded a bit familiar—but that did no wonders to Deidara—he instinctively turned around, looking at the intruder that just barged into his cave.

"Who are you, yeah?" Deidara glared. What he saw standing in front of him was a younger version of Itachi. Why this past-travelling, little Itachi was talking to him, Deidara had no clue. "Itachi-san, yeah?" He was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming when he saw this weird boy in front of him, smirking because he'd fallen asleep.

There was a growl that erupted quietly from the boy and he threw the blonde an onyx eyed glare. "I am not Itachi." He seethed, the words coming through his teeth. Deidara just shrugged his shoulders and extended his hands back into the fire where they would be warm and would least be likely to fall off.

"Uh, so yeah, mini-Itachi, right?" Deidara murmured. The boy had placed a hand on the frame of the cave, leaning casually.

"I'm not here for casualties. You are Akatsuki. And I'm looking for Uchiha Itachi."

"Itachi-san's not with us, yeah. Who are you?" He got a smirk and the raven haired boy merely turned his back. Deidara was honestly not getting anywhere with everything that just happened. Another unconscious move; he pulled the coat tighter around him. It was till piercingly freezing cold. And he was never, repeat, never a snow-loving person.

--

"Danna, yeah?" Deidara said, teeth chattering as he climbed—though with a lot of effort exerted—onto the cliff-side Sasori was casually sitting on. Hand propped on his knees whilst his chin rested on said hand. Deidara couldn't believe the redhead wasn't getting stung with the cold.

Sasori vaguely lifted his chin up, and then continued on staring at the white fields in front of him. Deidara was too blind and too cold at the moment to notice the gruesome, mostly one-sided battle, in front of him. He was still shaking when he made his way towards Sasori, standing just behind him. He instantly dropped to the ground with a plop, rubbing his hands on his arms to keep himself from the cold.

He squinted his eyes, trying to register what was going on in front of him. He saw Hidan—a faint white in the distance (It was probably just his eyes because of the cold)—and Kakuzu who was practically a giant and whose jutsu were so hard to miss. Deidara had never seen Kakuzu use any kind of jutsu, except for the large fire ball he threw at Hidan a few days past.

He didn't close his eyes, afraid he might fall asleep outside and freeze to death. And that his partner wouldn't have a prayer for his mock burial. Sometimes, Deidara just kept asking himself if Sasori was even human. Kakuzu didn't seem human, as well. Firing different kinds of jutsus all over the place.

It was one way to be using one element, and two, of course, but a wholly different thing when one single ninja uses all the four elements. In an alternate or probably random sweep as the fight goes by. He blinked, trying to register more of the fight. Hidan wasn't white anymore; he was looking more of a black skeleton by the second and was standing inside a weird circle which was drawn with red ink—blood, Deidara realized, seeing the low slice near his leg. He winced at that, Hidan didn't seem affected by said sliced up the leg.

Sasori also didn't seem affected at the very least. Instead, he looked at the blood bath in front of him. _Are these people even HUMAN?_ Deidara thought sourly, making a face as he leaned forward, one hand clutching the borrowed coat tighter, as if preventing the snow from coming contact with his skin. He hated to admit it, but with the cloak, it wasn't that bad. But Sasori had nothing to wear, the blond couldn't care less and just huffed. His free hand was crossed tight against his chest, looking at the wry battle in front of him.

After a few minutes of silence, Sasori stood up. Deidara barely heard the shuffling of shoes and then he heard an ear piercing scream, and that was about it. He didn't really care about the ninja fighting against the two destructive pair. And it didn't surprise him that much that the two had taken down 5 shinobi. Deidara had had his eyes half-closed the whole time he was watching, not paying much attention because of the cold. The cold was brining him down more than usual. He stifled a yawn and then dug into his pocket, he took out a pill and popped it into his mouth. He instantly felt a jolt of energy in his body and he, too, jumped up.

Sasori eyed him, scrutinizing him for a while before his lidded gaze rested on the two Akatsuki who were now launching themselves towards the cliff. And with a long bound and leap, landing not-so-lightly on the ground just a few feet away from the artistic duo. Deidara looked at them, his blue eyes following their movement and then looked at Sasori who had his arms crossed.

Slung over Kakuzu's shoulder was a limp and pale looking kunoichi who seemed dead. "The Nibi." Kakuzu informed Deidara, shrugging his shoulders. Hidan slung his scythe on his back. If Deidara wasn't an experienced ninja, he more or less gagged at the sight of Hidan. The pale-haired ninja was in scars. His stomach prying open, and his whole--upper, anyway—body filled with scars. Hidan smirked at this.

_Newbie doesn't know yet, does he? _He thought to himself smugly, he met Sasori's bored, brown-eyed stare and then looked up at his own partner's green ones. He wasn't smirking now, instead, he grinned. Deidara flinched back, and he suddenly thought that Hidan wasn't grinning; he was most likely bearing his teeth—fangs, yeah, Deidara thought—at him. Deidara did his best to glare at Hidan.

He missed the whole fight, not paying _any_ attention. And he was still dumb founded because Sasori wasn't obviously cold; Kakuzu wasn't fazed at all. And Hidan wasn't even bothered with all the scars and cuts he's got. He shrugged off the cloak which was originally from Sasori, and then handed it to him. The redhead stared at it for a minute and then grabbed it.

Half a second later, the cloak was thrown at Deidara. "You're going to freeze. Use it before I decide to take you up on the mock burial," Sasori's eyes flickered at that, but still stayed lidded. Deidara could just swear to himself that Sasori was no older than what, 14? 15? But as he is a shinobi, he's learned that appearances are deceiving and that there was more to Sasori than meets the eye.

For Sasori, though, he was more or less volunteering to lend Deidara the cloak. He was relieved of the fact that he decided to wear long sleeves. If it weren't that, then he just didn't know what to do anymore. The brat wasn't ready, that's what he thought. Also, because he and the whole organization—Save Deidara—had agreed to let the newbie discover just exactly what _kind of human beings there were. _

"Well, what? We're just going to stand here all night?" Kakuzu demanded, looking over his shoulder at the two artists. Sasori nodded, and then strode forward, walking in front of Kakuzu. Hidan fell back, shoulders hunched. He turned back now, meeting Deidara's wry stare and then grinned. His fuchsia eyes flashing.

"Hey, she-male. What's your damn problem? Do you want to freeze to death?" Hidan found that funny and broke into a roar of laughter. He received a sharp kunai just beneath his shoulders. He growled, "Fuck! That was not cool, Kakuzu!" He pulled on the kunai and then threw it at Kakuzu who neatly caught it with two of his fingers—and he wasn't even facing Hidan. Deidara blinked at that, Hidan was just stabbed by a kunai and he didn't even seem affect. He was bleeding of course, but a normal shinobi—human, yes—would probably try to stop the pain or something. Hidan just kept it like that, ignoring it as it began to feel numb.

"Get a move on, Blondie." Hidan called over his shoulder, his voice less teasing and more irritated now that Kakuzu had decided to throw a damn kunai at his shoulder. And he just sacrificed three 'pansy's' of a shinobi.

With a groan, Deidara followed. He wrapped Sasori's—shorter, per se—cloak around him once more and then followed, walking beside Hidan but making sure to keep a good odd-feet away from him.

--

Next Chapter:

Mission's done. And Deidara is left with a free few days with the other free Akatsuki who weren't on any missions. Deidara's curiosity gets the better of him and he might just discover what kind of human the other members of Akatsuki were. Or, if they were even human to being with.

--

Okay. Honestly, this chapter was... weird to write. It's mostly in Deidara's POV. Next chapter, I'll try to work everything out. Including all the others.

P.S

Reviews are loved and I'm watching that hit counter! Thanks.


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